Girl loses hair after tight braiding

PONTEFRACT, England, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- An 8-year-old British girl whose hair fell out after it was braided tightly hasn't grown any of the hair back after more than a year.

Jodie Holdsworth’s parents said her hair began to fall out when she removed the braids four days after they were put in during a vacation in Greece, The Times of London reported Friday.

“She was due to have her school photograph taken four days later so we thought it better to remove the braids," the girl's mother, Lisa Smalley, said. "The braids were just coming away from her scalp. When she went for a shower her hair literally just came sliding off her scalp. We were all in shock. She was left with a bald circle on top of her head.”

“The doctors there said the braids were too tight and had killed the hair but it would grow back,” she told The Times.

However, Smalley said the rest of the girl's hair, including her eyebrows and eyelashes, followed soon after and none of the missing hair grew back.

British experts, including Portsmouth University School of Pharmacy consultant trichologist Hugh Rushton, said the initial diagnosis of traction alopecia -- a temporary hair loss caused by severe and prolonged pulling -- was likely inaccurate.

“If hair braids are sufficiently tight, it can cause traction alopecia. There could be other reasons why Jodie’s hair fell out, underlying reasons that were already present,” Rushton said in The Times' report.