text: An alopecia sufferer left with no body hair or fingernails is calling for the medical tattooing that changed her life to be made available on the NHS. Brenda Finn, 30, says losing her hair at the age of 14 destroyed her confidence. She was also left suffering crippling anxiety and depression after bullying forced her to leave school. But now, after her family paid for her to have eyebrows tattooed on, she says she is finally able to face the world with more confidence. However she says having the procedure earlier would have made a huge difference to her life. Scroll down for video . Brenda Finn, 30, became depressed after her body hair and fingernails fell out (pictured left) due to alopecia. She says having eyebrows tattooed on (pictured right) has given her the confidence to face the world again . Miss Finn is calling for medical tattooing to become available on the NHS, as she says it could have saved her years of emotional pain. She suffered from crippling anxiety and depression due to her hair loss . Crucially, she feels it would save the NHS money to make the treatment available to alopecia sufferers, who may then not require expensive counseling or ongoing treatment for anxiety and depression. She said: ‘Getting my eyebrows back has done for me overnight what psychotherapy and anti depressants could not. ‘It has made me look more "normal" and feel more accepted because I don’t look so different anymore. 'I had forgotten what a difference eyebrows can make to a face and only wish I had access to this treatment years earlier. It could have saved years of anguish. ‘The incredible difference it has made to me is why I think eyebrows should be available on the NHS and I hope that I can help make a difference to other sufferers.’ Miss Finn says she does not consider the treatment to be cosmetic, but reconstructive. She said: ‘I was so young when I lost my eyebrows that I hadn’t ever really drawn them on and if I did they were wonky and rubbish and made me look worse. ‘I remained very self conscious about it.’ The children’s entertainer from London was 14 when she was diagnosed with alopecia universalis. She woke up one morning to find hair on her pillow and when she scratched her eyebrow it fell out. She explained: ‘Mum thought I was playing a trick on her to get off school but when she realised I was telling the truth she panicked. After having her eyebrows tattooed on, Miss Finn even found the confidence to take part in a charity fashion show without her wig . Miss Finn was bullied at school for wearing a wig, shattering her confidence so much she left school. Working as a nursery assistant with children, who accepted her wig, built up her confidence again . ‘I could tell she thought there was something seriously wrong and rushed me straight to the doctor.’ After blood tests Miss Finn was told she had alopecia and within weeks had lost all of her hair and nails. It was then when she started wearing a wig to school that the bullying started. She explained: ‘ I was nicknamed "cancer girl," despite the fact I did not have cancer. 'My wig would be torn off my head to be used as a football or flushed down the toilet.’ She endured six traumatic months before her teachers and parents agreed she should be home schooled. ‘The bullying was so bad that I had just shut down mentally,' she said. 'I wasn’t learning anything at school at all anymore because the bullying dominated everything.’ She says she became very reclusive and rarely left the house for the next three years. ‘Looking back I was likely suffering agoraphobia triggered by the alopecia - but it wasn’t ever diagnosed.’ It was only when her parents were able to purchase more expensive natural looking wigs that she started to feel confident enough to face the world again. Miss Finn had a £300 procedure to tattoo eyebrows on to her face (she is pictured before, left, and after, right). She said: ‘It was like my face changed overnight. It had structure and definition again' After securing a work placement at a local nursery, her confidence slowly grew and she one day admitted to the children that she wore a wig. She said: ‘Working with children was a great tonic for me because they are so accepting and didn’t care a jot that I was bald. 'In fact they loved playing with my wigs. It did wonders for my confidence.’ In time, she started work as a children’s entertainer and enjoyed being able to ‘hide’ behind the costumes which concealed her hair and face. Then last year her mother-in-law to be then told her about eyebrow tattooing, but Miss Finn could not afford the £300 procedure. She hoped it would be available on the NHS but when she learned it wasn't, her future-mother-in law offered to treat her. She had the tattoo in February last year and was amazed at the difference it made. Miss Finn was 14 when she was diagnosed with alopecia universalis, meaning she has lost all her body hair, (she is pictured before suffering the condition) She said: ‘It was like my face changed overnight. It had structure and definition again. I looked, dare I say it, a bit more normal again. ‘I can’t explain how good that felt. ‘I’m in a totally different place because of it and feel strongly that it should be available to all sufferers. ‘I was very fortunate to have family pay for it but others won’t be. And they may be costing the NHS more in therapy or pills to lift their mood. ‘I seriously think it needs to be addressed.’ Miss Finn, who is set to marry her fiancé Wayne next year, even found the confidence to take part in a charity fashion show without her wig, something she would never have done before her tattooed eyebrows. She said: ‘This isn’t about vanity, it’s about acceptance after a medical condition which is a crucial part of the healing process mentally and physically.’ She has now launched a petition to get the treatment on the NHS. To support Miss Finnsign her petition.
target: Brenda Finn was diagnosed with alopecia at 14 and lost all her hair .
  She is now calling for medical tattooing to be made available on the NHS .
  Claims the £300 procedure would have saved her years of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem after  condition left a target for bullies .
  Argues it would save the NHS money with alopecia patients who are reliant on expensive  therapy or antidepressants .