A MODEL who suffers from a rare genetic condition which causes growth abnormalities has spoken out about her determination to break into the fashion industry.

    Melanie Gaydos, 27, was born with ectodermal dysplasia, a genetic disorder that affects the growth of teeth, pores, cartilage, nails and even small bones. The condition means Gaydos is bald, and doesn’t have any adult teeth.

    Gaydos, a native of Connecticut, the U.S., said about getting her start in modeling, dealing with negative comments — and why she refuses to wear dental implants despite not having any teeth.

    “People are more comfortable when I have teeth in my mouth,” she said, before adding, “But I’m not.”

    Gaydos also has a bilateral cleft palette and alopecia, which inhibits natural hair growth.

    Her form of alopecia causes ingrown hairs, and as a child, unchecked eyelash growth damaged her corneas and resulted in partial blindness.

    Having spent years dealing with the symptoms of her condition, it wasn’t until she was 26 that Gaydos, who counts Miley Cyrus among her fans, got her first set of false teeth, while appearing on the medical talk show “The Doctors.”

    But Gaydos stopped wearing the dentures only eight months after the episode aired, saying that, although she thought getting teeth would be “life-changing,” she was actually happier the way she was.

    Of her inspiration to become a model, Gaydos said, “I always had this fascination of being larger than life. I wanted to be on a billboard or on a big movie screen.”

    But the model’s first passion was fine art, which she studied at New York’s Pratt Institute and which first helped usher her into modeling, after she began focusing on self-portraits, allowing her to discover and embrace her own unique beauty.

    Eventually, a boyfriend convinced her to try modeling. Gaydos said, “He helped me to understand that I am the only person who looks like me, that there was potential.”

    She began responding to Craigslist ads looking for “unique” models, and soon built up a small portfolio. Gaydos was shocked when her fan letter to the famous Spanish photographer Eugenio Recuenco resulted in a casting.

    Eugenio had been taken with the photos she had enclosed in her letter and flew her out to Berlin for a music video he was directing for the German band Rammstein.

    When asked if she is bitter about her disorder, Gaydos said, “No. It doesn’t bother me, and it never did. Or if it did, it’s because it was something people were telling me I should be upset about.”

    (SD-Agencies)