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RALEIGH - At 25, Sandra Dubose noticed a small bald patch behind her ear. It grew progressively worse each day.

Dubose visited a dermatologist who diagnosed her with an autoimmune disease, an overreactive immune response where the body's immune system mistakenly identifies healthy hair follicles as foreign objects and attacks them to keep them from producing hair.

"I'm genetically predisposed to autoimmune disease," Dubose said. "My dad died of Lupus when I was 20 years old."

The medical term for hair loss on the scalp and other parts of the body is Alopecia. It can start at any age as an autoimmune disease or during chemotherapy treatments for cancer. Alopecia affects approximately 2 percent of the population overall including more than 4.7 million people in the U.S. The skin disease is unpredictable and cyclical. Hair can grow back or fall out at any time, and the disease's course is different for each person.

There are three types: Alopecia Areata, the most common, presents itself in round, smooth patches of various sizes; Alopecia Totalis is a total loss of hair on the scalp; and Alopecia Universalis, the most severe and rarest form, is loss of hair over the entire scalp and body.

While the disease didn't harm her physical health, other than losing her hair, Dubose said it affected her emotionally.

"I was pretty depressed as I went to shop for wigs that complement me," she said. "I was just trying to get comfortable in my own skin."

Dubose said "bald and beautiful" has become a hot topic after Kayla Martell won the crown of Ms. Delaware. Martell also has Alopecia Areata.

As president and CEO of Dubose Entertainment, Dubose documented her personal story in the independent film "Project Liberation: My Alopecia Experience." To accompany the film, she recorded a mini-music soundtrack that includes the signature song, "I'm Beautiful." To see the trailer and hear the soundtrack, visit www.DuboseEntertainment.com.

"Singing and acting is part of my nature, and when this happened that was not my initial response," Dubose said. "I developed it when I was 25, but I wasn't ready to talk about it until I was 33."

She said the biggest focus is helping the children. "There are so many children who deal with this condition, and they're the ones suffering the most. They're teased, bullied; a lot of them are ostracized. We want to help kids that are dealing with it."

Crystal Brown, who currently hosts the meetings at her Elizabeth Ashley Invisible Lace Wigs store in Raleigh, said she is happy to be able to provide a forum for people so they know that they are not alone.

Cheri Ginder, whom Dubose referred to as one of the "consistent leaders" of the support group, said being in the group has helped her.

"I'm just a lot more confident," she said. "Even talking in front of people was always uncomfortable for me since I started losing my hair, but I've definitely shared comfortably in the after group meetings."

The support group will celebrate its one-year anniversary in September.

"It's hard when it comes to that feeling of shame and embarrassment, but we try to keep the meetings light-hearted and festive," Dubose said. "We're not just going to sit around and cry. This is about empowering and helping our people to get to the next level, helping people know there's help so they won't have to go through this battle by themselves."

The support/empowerment group meets once a month and is available to anyone challenged with low self-esteem due to medically related hair loss. To learn more about the group, visit www.AlopeciaCommunity.org, or call Dubose at (919) 610-5420.

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