Three-year-old Katie-Ann pulls out her hair whenever she is stressed, bored, tired or anxious.
Katie-Ann has yanked at her hair so much that she now has bald patches on her head. All the other girls her age have long shoulder-length hair and although she has never had a hair cut in her life, she is always being mistaken for a boy.
Katie-Ann has always been obsessed with hair and constantly wants to be touching it or pulling at it. If she is told to stop pulling her own hair out she will move on to her mum's and then the dog's.
Mum and dad have tried everything to stop her - they have put gloves and hats on her, taken toys away, given her praise for not doing it and told her off when she does, but as soon as they stop looking she starts pulling it out again. She has also started pulling out her hair at night time which means it's becoming impossible to stop her. Her parents are worried that she will do permanent damage to her hair if she continues to pull at it so constantly.
The family have visited health professionals and doctors but none of them have been able to help. Annette feels really alone in this problem as she feels there is little help around and no one seems to want to talk about it.
Mum and dad have been living together for 17 years and feel that they have a happy relationship. They don't argue and Katie-Ann is a happy and healthy child so they don't understand why she started pulling out her hair. Dad feels that she pulls her hair now out of habit. 'It's a comfort thing,' he says.
Katie loves long hair and would love to have longer hair so that she can use pretty hair bands and clips in her hair. Her mum and dad are desperate for her to start school in September looking like a normal three year old girl. They are very worried about how the other children will react to her if she is bald and don't want her to feel different to all the other girls.
