An 8-year-old girl who lost all her hair after having it braided while on holiday in Greece is still bald more than a year later.

Jodie Holdsworth’s hair started to fall out when she had the braids removed four days after returning from Faliraki, Rhodes, in September last year. Her parents hoped that the condition would be temporary and were horrified when the hair did not grow back. To make matters worse, Jodie also lost her eyebrows and eyelashes.

Doctors told the family that the hair loss had been caused by the braids being too tight and are unable to say if it will ever grow back. Lisa Smalley, the girl’s mother, said that the family take “each day as it comes”.

Ms Smalley, 29, from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, said: “We paid £30 and had it done at a roadside stall in the town. It took the lady in charge about half an hour. Jodie thought it looked great. She couldn’t wait to get back to school to show her friends. At the time she said it was a bit tight but we thought no more about it and we came home.

“She was due to have her school photograph taken four days later so we thought it better to remove the braids. 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.”

Ms Smalley took her daughter to Pontefract General Infirmary. “The doctors there said the braids were too tight and had killed the hair but it would grow back,” she said. “Yet two or three weeks later I was brushing her hair and more of it was still coming out.”

Jodie was referred to a dermatologist, who diagnosed the most severe form of alopecia. Ms Smalley said that he indicated that the condition had been triggered by the initial stress of losing her hair.

A report published in the British Journal of Dermatology two months ago suggested that girls who plait their hair too tightly or scrape it back in braids or a ponytail may be at risk of permanent hair loss. The study in South Africa found that one in seven schoolgirls and a third of women were suffering from “traction alopecia”, temporary hair loss thought to be caused by excessive and prolonged pulling of the hair.

Experts in Britain said yesterday that Jodie’s hair loss was unlikely to be traction alopecia. Hugh Rushton, a consultant trichologist at the School of Pharmacy at Portsmouth University, said: “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.”

Jodie has a weekly treatment which involves painting a solution on her scalp to encourage her hair follicles to grow hair. Ms Smalley said: “Jodie still gets stares in the street which makes me mad. The trauma she has been through is immense and she has coped so well. She only cried once and I’m proud of her.”

Ms Smalley is now trying to get a wig for Jodie but has been refused NHS funding.

Explore Health

• Expert Advice

• Health Features

• Mental Health

• Alternative Medicine

• Child Health

• Health Club