A woman with a rare genetic disorder has defied the odds to become a top fashion model.
Melanie Gaydos was born with Ectodermal Dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder which causes abnormalities to hair, teeth and nails.
Talking about her symptons, Melanie explained: ‘Ectodermal Dysplasia means my pores are very small and I have very little body hair.’
She went on: ‘I only have three baby teeth at the moment… My baby teeth grew in and then they promptly started decaying.’
But despite having the odds firmly stacked against her, the 26-year-old has forged a career as a top fashion model.
Melanie explained that her modelling career began shortly after she moved to New York City.
She explained: ‘I ended up meeting and starting a lot of my fashion work based off of Craigslist because there were a lot of fashion photographers on there who were looking for models who didn’t have a stereotypical look.’
Talking about her motivation for entering the world of modelling, Melanie explained: ‘I just started modelling as a means to learn more about myself – I never thought that it would journey into where it has today.’
But her career soon took off, and Melanie is now so popular that she works as an actress and model full time.
But although she’s now happy and successful, Melanie’s life wasn’t always so rosy.
She confided: ‘As a child I faced a lot of bullying and a lot of people stared at me.
She went on: ‘When I was about 16 I was really depressed and suicidal I didn’t really want to live – I didn’t think that I would be alive past the age of 18.’