Trichotillomania

Hi Lilac, how awful for you! I hope this helps you. Try to establish which activities trigger your tricho, such as watching television or settling down to sleep. Then, when you are in these vulnerable situations, try to establish an alternative, non-damaging routine such as squashing a soft toy between your fingers, or playing with a piece of velvet. Ask friends and familly to remind and praise this alternative habit until the pattern of pulling has changed. Patience and acceptance are essential. It can help to use warm Vaseline - place some in the palm of your hand and warm it with a hairdryer - and run this through your hair if you think of it as a conditioner or tonic. The Vaseline coats the hair and makes it difficult to get a firm grip to pluck a hair. Some times a shorter hairstyle can keep it away from the face and fingers this is not always the answer and may make the problem worse if you feel you are being punished. Some parents have shaved their child's head, this can be successful for boys but in girls it can trigger bullying. Tricho management is difficult because its triggers are unknown and may differ from person to person but it could be useful to assess whether depression or anxiety is fuelling the hair-pulling. If pulling can be stopped, hair may grow back normally. There seems to be a 50% chance that pulled hair will have a different colour or texture and this change may be temporary or permanent. Occasionally, scarring occurs in which case the hair loss may be permanent. I don't really know much about this but I hope this gives you a few ideas to try, good luck!

Lilac I have never heard of this Illness before so I can't help you there have taken a look on the Internet as I think you will find a lot of Information there

My daughter used to have this problem. I think she's pretty much overcome it. One thing to try is wearing a rubber band around your wrist. Whenever you find yourself pulling hair or eyelashes, snap yourself with the rubber band enough to sting. It's to condition yourself out of doing it. I'm not big on punishment strategies myself (even self-punishment) but that's the one I've heard of that's supposed to work. You might just try thinking of something to substitute. Like every time you catch yourself starting to do it, you force yourself to write in a journal or something instead. I haven't had this myself, but I do have OCD and have had "grooming" compulsions that went out of control at times which is similar. I used to clip my cuticles so obsessively that they would bleed and my fingers would throb. It can be very difficult to break out of.