Karen Sorensen has Alopecia, the most advanced form of a disease characterized by a total loss of body hair. As you might imagine, growing up was hard.
"I was very self conscious, depressed a lot," said Karen. "I didn't want to do things."
She tried everything to hide it, from wigs to hats.
"(I) didn't want to put myself out there too much because I was embarrassed about the way I looked," she said.
But then she heard about disposable hair. The "virtual reality" hairpiece is made of a porous, skin-like membrane that looks like your scalp. Real hair is sewn into it.
"Hmm, I like it," said Karen.
Tom Magliaro with Hair Additions says it's more lightweight, than other hairpieces.
"There's no need now as we did in the past, need to repair, add extra hair to the system as time went on, there's no attrition of hair, that's no longer an issue. You wear the hair and discard it,' said Magliaro.
Magliaro says male-pattern baldness patients replace the "virtual reality" air every four to six weeks. But for medical patients needing a full head of hair, like Karen, it lasts longer.
"We have to make the membrane just a little bit fuller, thicker to support the extra hair and because of that it'll go maybe 2 to 3 months."
Karen says her new look is liberating and has given her new confidence.
"It helps me to feel like a woman," she said.
"When we work with hair like this and restore someone's dignity during a very difficult time, it is countless the benefit they get in their health,"
The "virtual reality" hair system can run from about $3,300 for the medical hair to about $4,500 for traditional thinning hair patients. The price includes four grafts and any services needed, as well.
Click Here, for more information on the Alopecia Areata Study.
Click Here for more information on Tom Magliaro's Hair Additions.
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Christi Myers is ABC13's Healthcheck reporter
