'This was so scary'
Model with Alopecia shares powerful video of herself without a wig to encourage people to ‘accept their imperfections’
Lara Kitchen began losing her hair when she was just 14, and rumours spread about her condition
A MODEL with Alopecia has shared a video of her bald head online, which she says was the "scariest thing" she's ever done in her life.
Lara Kitchen, 20, started losing her hair when she was just 14 years old.
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At first she had no idea why it was happening and had to deal with people whispering behind her back at school.
"Doing this is was the scariest thing I have ever done in my entire life and something I don't speak about to anyone!
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"I felt like I was the girl that 'wore a wig' or as nasty rumours went around such as 'I had cancer' and these words were spread not just through my own school but through other school and already suffering anxiety made things very tough," she wrote .
Lara visited many doctors, but it took a long time for her to be diagnosed with Alopecia.
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She can vividly remember crying as she removed her wig in front of the medics, with the one who diagnosed her breaking the news that it was unlikely her hair would grow back.
"Determined to get my hair back we started treatments (which were not cheap, and involved very strong steroids going onto my head) eventually after trying and trying I gave up and had to accept that nothing was working so for the mean time stick to wigs," she recalled on the social media site.
The hair loss had a dramatic effect on Lara, who suffered with mental health issues and an eating disorder.
She hit rock bottom last year, when she overdosed on prescription medication.
"When I left high school I started to think about what had been going on and started to develop quite severe depression," she told .
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"I spent most of 2014 in a private mental health clinic because I wasn't dealing with it all.
"In July of last year I wasn't coping at all and got to my lowest point and majorly overdosed on prescription medicines.
"I was in the ICU for four days in an induced coma."
That acted as a wake-up call for the young woman, who realised she'd been given a second chance.
She wanted to do something to help girls deal with the pressure they're placed under, especially as she's a model.
Lara has long been in touch with a woman called Franchesca, who made wigs from human hair.
They've meant she's been able to straighten and style her hair like anyone else, and really helped Lara deal with her condition.
They've often spoken about creating a video to show Lara with and without her wig, and now they've finally done it.
Lara felt ready to show she's "bold and strong" and felt baring her head was the perfect way to do that.
The video was posted on the Freedom Couture Instagram page.
What is Alopecia?
Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss.
It often refers to Alopecia areata, which is when someone suffers loss of hair in patches.
It mostly affects people in their teens or young adults.
Often hair grows back after a few months, but it might be finer or another colour.
Alopecia totalis means no hair on the scalp at all, while Alopecia universalis is no hair on the body or head.
It's caused by an issue with the immune system.
It may be that genes also play a part.
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