At age 7, Selma Blair lost control of her bladder, lost vision in one eye, and lost function in one leg.

Beard, M. (2025, May 27). Selma Blair reveals the MS symptoms doctors dismissed since she was a kid: 'It took me 30 years to get an MRI'. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2025/05/27/health/selma-blairs-ms-symptoms-that-doctors-dismissed-for-decades/

Cancer was ruled out—but that was the end of the workup. No MRI. No neurology referral. Just decades of being dismissed as dramatic, unstable, or attention-seeking.

The A-list actress's story exemplifies a common issue in medicine: How gender and age bias can delay or derail diagnosis. “If you’re a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI. If you’re a girl, you’re called ‘crazy,’” Blair told British Vogue.

Ryan F. It Took 40 Years Of Silent Pain For Selma Blair To Receive Her Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis. Now, She’s Done Staying Quiet. British Vogue. April 20, 2023.

The physician who finally took her seriously

Even after her diagnosis, Blair’s journey wasn’t smooth. She suffered a major relapse following a stem cell transplant. But her care took a dramatic turn when she began working with a new provider—the first female physician she’d ever seen.

This doctor approached Blair’s MS from a holistic standpoint, incorporating her history of early menopause and looking beyond textbook symptoms.

It really did change my life completely. We found a way to manage my MS and I am doing really, really well right now.

Her experience underscores a broader point: Early-onset MS is often missed, not because it’s hard to spot, but because patients' symptoms are dismissed or unaddressed. When young patients, especially girls, present with vague or multifocal neurological complaints, the response is often to minimise, not investigate.

The lesson for physicians? Stay curious. When symptoms span systems or defy easy categorisation, resist the urge to dismiss. It might not "look" like MS, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t. Listening—without bias—might just change everything.