Rachael Shaw works at St Mary's Hospital as an advisor to fellow alopecia patients or to those who lost their hair to chemotherapy.

Wig company Browns recently set up in St Mary's and hired Rachael. The Macmillan Centre inside the hospital allows patients to book an appointment with Rachael to enable them to pick out their own wig.

Rachael, 28, of Byerley Road, Fratton, said her experiences could help others deal with their own issues.

'It's really nice to speak to someone else with alopecia,' she said.

'I reached a point in my life when I wanted to be a bit more public about it.

'When they get their wigs they can't believe the difference and the transformation it makes. A lot of people don't even realise I'm wearing a wig.'

Rachael first started to notice clumps of her hair falling out when she was 16, and a year later it had all fallen out.

'I started wearing wigs when I was 17, and now I wear different wigs every day,' she said.

The wig clinic is open Wednesdays and Fridays, 9.30am to 3.30pm, and Rachael also visits the wards, and makes home visits.

She is also looking for hairdressers to come forward and help out by styling the wigs to the patients' personal choice.