At a time in a child's life when "fitting in" is of utmost importance, and appearance is really that by which your peers judge you, losing your hair can be devastating.

When a person is just beginning to develop who they are and deciding what they want to be in life, losing hair seems like losing your identity.

What 12-year-old girl has the confidence and self-esteem to lose half the hair on her head and still "fit in" with the other kids at school?

Well, when I was a seventh-grade student at Seven Hills Middle School, all those feelings, concerns and challenges came into focus for me.

It was precisely at that time that I was diagnosed with Alopecia, an autoimmune disease that results in the loss of hair on the scalp and, for some people, the entire body.

I remember the exact day vividly. It was a warm day in September, and the seventh-grade girls' basketball team loaded into the school bus to head out and play a very important game against Weimar Hills. The team was a normal group of 12-year-olds. We listened to music, chatted about boys and discussed our teachers and school. Everyone seemed to be playing with each other's hair, trying to figure out the best hairdo for the big game. As a teammate started to put my hair into a pony-tail, she proclaimed, "Oh my gosh, Lindsay! What is wrong with you?"

A sense of panic overcame me as the entire team's attention was suddenly focused on me.

Was I different from the rest of the girls? Was something really wrong with me? What do I say next?

I quickly tried to gather my thoughts and come up with something to say that would not make them judge or question me further. I had no idea I was missing hair. I told them I did not know what was happening and I probably just had a high hairline on the back of my head. We played the game and went on to win, but that question remained in my head for days.

Was something really wrong with me?

After waiting a few restless days I worked up enough nerve to approach my mother about my hair loss. I was nervous about what she would say. She told me not to worry and we would schedule a doctor's appointment right away. However, in the meantime I would wake up to clumps of hair on my pillow, clogging the shower drain, and filling my hair brush - evidence that I was losing my hair at a rate difficult to comprehend.

This was more than just a high hair line. I would soon find out I had a common disease that effects approximately 2 percent of the population, including more than 4.7 million people in the United States.

Alopecia often begins with small patches on the scalp that are smooth and round, about the size of a nickel. What was once normal hair follicles are attacked by the individuals own immune system and hair growth slows down or stops completely.

Many patients experience little or no new hair growth for an indefinite period of time. The scalp is the most commonly affected area, but any place where hair grows on the human body can be affected by the disease.

Alopecia can occur in both males and females regardless of race or age. This is a disease that healthcare professionals do not recognize as medically serious. The disease is not life threatening and is therefore largely ignored or treated as "no big deal." The physical effects are as simple as partial hair loss to complete elimination of all body hair.

However, the psychological effects of the disease can be devastating for some without the proper education about the disease, its treatment options and the emotional support of important people in the patient's life.

There were a lot of things that could be worse than being diagnosed with Alopecia, but at that stage in my life it was cause for great concern. My parents offered to shave their heads so we could all go through this together. As ridiculous as that sounded to me, I knew I was in for a somewhat difficult and challenging journey. Over the course of the next two years, I battled it well and was blessed to receive excellent medical treatment that limited the effects.

Five years have passed since my first diagnosis with the disease, and whereas I questioned my self-worth in the beginning, I have developed into a self-assured young woman. I am a hard working, goal oriented and compassionate person. I know now that inner beauty creates outer beauty.

There is no cure for Alopecia and treatment options are limited based on the amount of hair loss. I consider myself one of the lucky ones who responded well to steroid injections to my scalp. My hair has grown back and most people would never know that I suffer from the disease. In the five years since the initial onset, I have had two reoccurrences when I found new "patches" of hair loss on my scalp.

I have often considered this one of life's little roadblocks, a challenge the Lord presents in life to make us stronger in character. Although the journey is not one I would wish on other people, in the grand scheme of things I have come to realize that there are most certainly worse ailments. Yet, for that season in my life, I came to understand the disease and effects on my body. Even with the difficulties it presented, I believe it helped to make me a stronger person.

As a senior at Nevada Union High School, I decided to do my senior project on Creating Awareness of Alopecia. I want individuals in our community, especially children, who may be experiencing the same type of hair loss as I did to know that there is no need to suffer in silence as the disease progresses.

Alopecia organizations and support groups worldwide are available to help educate patients and their families on the disease. Understanding the disease and developing coping strategies for living in a world where appearance is often the ruler upon which self-esteem is measured is important for living a full and well adjusted life with Alopecia.

For more information on Alopecia contact the National Alopecia Areata Foundation at www.naaf.org, e-mail Lindsay Adams at lindsay88@sbcglobal.net, or check out my own Web site at www.adamsfamilyusa.com/alopecia/.

<I>Lindsay Adams is a senior at Nevada Union High School.</I>