Great British Bake Off star Matt Lucas has spoken out about his journey with alopecia areata (hair loss) several times in the past. His openness is no doubt a support for others in the same position, and Matt has even reached out to share his support directly. Most recently, he took to Twitter to like a post shared by a young fan who bravely posted a photo of himself having lost all of his hair.
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As for Matt's own battle, he discussed his journey in his memoir, Little Me. He explained that doctors initially believed the condition came on from shock after he was "knocked down by a car" during a family holiday to Portugal.
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He began to lose his hair two years later in 1980, and his baldness sadly became something that defined him. "Suddenly, everything and anything else that I was was eclipsed by the fact that I was the little boy in town with absolutely no hair," Matt wrote.
"I was never allowed to forget for one moment that I was bald," he added. "If I went swimming or to the cinema or went to the shop or simply walked down the street, adults and children stared at me."
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© Photo: RexMatt Lucas lost his hair when he was six
He went on to attempt various kinds of treatment, none of which were successful. He then came to realise that his hair loss had actually been caused by an overactive immune system – which was backed up by his struggles with asthma, eczema, hayfever and allergies as a child. Doctors explained that his body was constantly looking for things to fight with, and theorised that this was the reason his body had rejected his hair.
Now, Matt has learned to live with the condition as there is no known cure to date. It's an unpredictable and challenging thing to deal with, and we applaud Matt for his candor.
For more information on alopecia and coronavirus, visit Alopecia UK.
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