From Robert Redford to Yoda

Barry Shanley woke up one morning in 2001 missing part of his moustache. Then his hair and eyebrows disappeared. Doctor after doctor as he went up the specialist food chain said they’d never seen anything like it. But they think they know what may have caused it. After weeks of testing and checking his medical records a team at Cleveland Clinic decided it was the steroid shots for severe allergies from the age of 4 to 18. The specialist said he was a time bomb that finally went off. Now many years later, his immune system thought his hair--all of it--was a disease and was destroying it. Oddly, since this affliction began in October 2001, he has not had a headache, cold, the flu, or sore throat. Nothing. After eight years, they still don’t know exactly why, but he has finally had a new photo taken for his newspaper column.