Trichotillomania is an Impulse Control Disorder characterized by the repeated pulling out of one's own hair or eyelashes and eyebrows.

Yeah, so I have it. I've pulled on my eyelashes since I was about 12 or 13. I'm 48 now and still have the compulsion. Just curious if anybody else shares in this oddity.

Trichotillomania is an Impulse Control Disorder characterized by the repeated pulling out of one's own hair or eyelashes and eyebrows.

Yeah, so I have it. I've pulled on my eyelashes since I was about 12 or 13. I'm 48 now and still have the compulsion. Just curious if anybody else shares in this oddity.
Whoa, I have never yet spoken to a fellow person who also pulled out the eyelashes. At the age of 9 I had zero eyelashes and from time to time I still pull on them. Not to the point to where they totally disappear, but sometimes they look very "thin" or I have bald patches. I only do it now when I am very stressed and feeling like I have no control over things. I take fluvoxamine for the OCD and it does seem to be helping, but it doesn't completely take away the effects.

Do you feel the urge to pull out hair other than the eyelashes?

A roomie of mine had that, she pulled her head hair until the patches develeloped then moved on to another area of the head.

OM goodness, you are all so brave. Add me to the list. I"ve NEVER admitted this to anyone. I'm 42, and since about puberty. Thank whoever invented mascara and eyeliner and brow pencils, oh and long bangs. I manange to keep about 1/2 of my lashes.

Nervous habit, especially when talking on the phone, or anxious. No to head hair, yes to just about everywhere else. Is there anything that works to stop this???

We are not alone!!!

OM goodness, you are all so brave. Add me to the list. I"ve NEVER admitted this to anyone. I'm 42, and since about puberty. Thank whoever invented mascara and eyeliner and brow pencils, oh and long bangs. I manange to keep about 1/2 of my lashes.

Nervous habit, especially when talking on the phone, or anxious. No to head hair, yes to just about everywhere else. Is there anything that works to stop this???

We are not alone!!!
I have yet to find a cure. Although I found that once I started taking my medication the urge came less frequently, but when stress comes up... watch out eyelashes! I do manage to stop myself before I get bald eyes. I always leave enough for eyeliner to cover up, but I still wish I could stop altogether. I go through times where I have full eyelashes and then there are times when they are thin.

My mother used to put mittens on my hands or hot stuff on my hands to discourage the eyelash pulling, but that never worked. She also used to smack my hand away or just ask me if I have been pulling.

It is just so embarrassing that sometimes I have to sleep with eyemakeup on so that my boyfriend doesn't see how bad it really is. He knows I pull, but he doesn't know the extent of it.

I need a magical cure.

Nervous habit, especially when talking on the phone, or anxious. No to head hair, yes to just about everywhere else. Is there anything that works to stop this??? I was reading a book called Tormenting Thoughts and Secret Rituals (p. 202) by Ian Osborn, MD. It is about OCD but discusses related conditions like trichotillomania. He said as far as treatment goes:

The SRI Medications that work well in OCD are also effective for trichotillomania, but the response is less vigorous. An excellent 1989 study using clomipramine (Anafranil) in the treatment opf trichotillomania showed a very positive result, but since then studies using other SRIs have been less encouraging. Katie did benefit markedly from sertaline (Zoloft) at a dose of 150 miligrams per day, but that may have been mostly due to its antidepressant effect.

Behavior therapy, too, is useful in trichotillomania. Since there are no obsessions in hair pulling, however, the exposure and resopnse prevention techniques that are useful in OCD are ineffective.
What does work is "habit reveral":
(1) closely monitoring when hari pulling occurs;
(2) identifying the precursors to hair pulling, such as studying or watching TV, tingling or itching of the scalp, and touching or straightening hair;
(3) increasing awareness of these precursors;
(4) learning a relaxation method such as deep breathing; and
(5) interrupting the response of precursor leading to hair pulling by using relaxation methods.(emphasis added mine)Hope there is something helpful in here.

Scattered

Trich or Skin-Picking can worsen (or Begin) on Stimulants....

Trich or Skin-Picking can worsen (or Begin) on Stimulants....Since it is an impulse control disorder, I would expect in some cases in could also improve on stimulents -- a little impulse control and all. At least with the skin-picking I know of cases where it improved.

Wow, I've never met anyone else who did this. I was really bad about it when I was in college. I even went a couple of years with only barely pulling a couple out but actually having something to put mascara on. However, everything changed last month, work and home became so extremely stressful that I sat a my desk one day and proceeded to pull out every single eyelash. It didn't even register that I had done this until I looked in the mirror. I was so horrified that I finally started researching all of my issues on the internet and found that I possibly had ADHD. Long story short - I was finally diagnosed ADHD last month. My whole life everyone said I was depressed. I don't think I've ever been really drpressed but rather stressed.


Thanks for opening up this discussion.

Fake eyelashes work well, after a couple of days you get really good at applying them. But no matter what the package says - none of them are waterproof.

I'm glad I started this thread too. I can't tell you the amount of money I spend just on the fake eyelashes. I don't want to give anybody any ideas but I even resort to playing with those lashes when they are on.

When I was younger it was hard always being self conscience of my eyes. And being with boyfriends; showers, spending the night and being soooo worried if your eye lashes are still in place. Having a panic attack if you forgot your eye liner. The first time I shed my false lashes was with my first husband just after we were married. I told him about the lack of lashes before we were married and I told him I'd let him see me without them after we were married. There was/and is no better feeling then having the man you love not be affected in anyway by your lack of lashlessness. Anyway, that was 1985. It must have been about 10 years after that when I first heard about trich.

Now I don't care as much about how others see me. I even go out without them on. I've realized people don't notice, or give much thought to eyelashes.

Ok this is sad. When I just read more on this thread I felt my eyelid start itching and tingling for me to pull...:( I hate having this problem. I always feel so ashamed :(

My boyfriend knows about this problem of mine, but I still won't let him see me when I don't have the mascara and eyeliner on (if I have been pulling). My mom notices even when I wear the mascara and asks me about it. I am always so self consious that people are looking at me and noticing how wierd I am with such thin thin lashes.

:(

OK, i confess, while we're at it, if one of my dogs is sitting on my lap........um, you know. If there's a doggie hair out of place, it's outta there. :-( That's a really stressful day though.

I've tried falsies, but I'm not a falsie kind of gal. I even shortened them to help. Darn, they hurt in the corners, don't they?? I just cannot get used to it. I admire you gals who can wear them. Did you know they even have false BOTTOM lashes on the net? Don't know how that would feel, but those would be gone in a tickle too. Urghhh!.

Yep, I too pull on the falses, especailly at night at the end of a long stressfull day. I will be claeing the house drinking a beer just tugging away, till they peal off then re-glue them back on and start over again.

I am very thank-full for my husband as well. At the moment I have absolutely NO lashes at all! Work has been THAT stressful. He still loves me and says I'm beautifull. When I tried them for the first time, he said they were sexy and it turned him on!! He knows about my eating disorder as well, which is something else that is very embaressing. I was bulemic for 19 years sometimes binging and purging up to 12-15 times a day, and pulling out my eyelashes. Then this last time I almost got fired from my job and I sat and pulled out every single lash, I did some research on the net and went to a doctor. The very first day on the medication was the first day of the begining of my life. The bulemia and lash pulling stopped! Just like a light switch. After 19 years of binging and purging numerous times everyday to not even thinking about it at all. However, at the end of the day when I cannot take anymore medication the lash pulling starts. And when I ran out of medication and could not get any till Monday the bulemia started again as well. As soon as the medication starts to wear off and I start getting nervous and pulling my lashes I immediatly go for the meds.

I am turely amazed at the difference. It's like a 5 pack a day chain smoker all the sudden quit and never pick up another cigarette. I was even in the inpatient mental ward for eating disorders for 90 days and I still did it there.

Most of all my husband has loved me and stuck with me through it all!!!! And now I have 2 of the most wonderful children in the world.

...The very first day on the medication was the first day of the begining of my life. ...

...Most of all my husband has loved me and stuck with me through it all!!!! And now I have 2 of the most wonderful children in the world.What medication are you on? A good husband and loving children are a gift.

:soapbox: I was in a documentary called "Bad Hair Live" that aired on PBS and interviewed on "Good Morning America" by Diane Soyer about my TTM. It is estimated that 2% of the population has TTM and there are support organizations like the Trichotillomania Learning Center. I try to talk about it where ever I go so that people who struggle silently with TTM will know that they are not alone.

I have had TTM since I was nine, seen therapists (and educated most of them about TTM) since I was 12, tried every SSRI and many other meds (like a lab rat) since I wa 18, and just this year at the age of 39 my therapist began to contimplate the possibility that I might have ADD.

:eek: I have, in my darkest hours, completely cleared out 75% of my scalp, half of my groin, all of my upper eyelashes, all fo my eyebrows, and any other visible facial hair. Arms, legs and lower lashes are too painful for me, but everything else has been fair game. I am extremely sensitive to the "Tingle" and obsessed with my hair follicles.

Now, I can usually keep my eyelashes and eyebrows, and I am most thankful for that.

:faint: This message has probably freaked all of you out, but hopefully it will give a sense of relief to someone who has it as severly as I do.

I started on Dexedrine and it was great. But then I had to find a new doctor that was on my plan, this was difficult and ones I found did not like dexedrine, so I went off it for a couple of weeks. I have since found a doctor who will prescribe it for me, but it's not the same, I guess it lost it's power.

Sorry, it's late.


I still have a lot of stress in my life and the dex just isn't quite what it was at first so I barely have any lashes and I'm back to my eating disorder as well, but at least it's only once a day if that, sometimes once every couple of days. It used to be 12-15 times a day.

Okay, I'm going to start crying now. I've never read so much information on TTM before, just a little mention here or there.

Please tell me if this is trichotillomania that I have. Since I was nine years old, I started "twisting" my hair. "Twisting" includes twirling it and then tying it in knots and then just yanking the whole clump of hair out. All during my childhood, I was slapped, yelled at, even had a very long section cut out by my father. Of course, this was back in the late 60s and 70s, before anyone recognized it as an "illness," and on up to adulthood. (I'm now 48 and still twisting like crazy.)

I was finally told by a psychiatrist about 10 years ago there was a name for it. But just about everything I've read on TTM has to do with plucking hairs out, usually eyebrows or eyelashes. I've never touched my lashes or brows. I pluck my eyebrows, but that's a grooming/fashion things. Occasionally I pull out an eyelash, but it's normally because I feel like something is in my eye. I've never plucked out body hair. It's just always been the hair on my head. I've had various bald spots over the years. Once, when I was in a hospital (nervous breakdown) I started a collection of "twisties," little strands of hair that I've twisted into tight knots at each end after pulling the whole thing out. To date, I have jars full of them. I try to use them instead of reaching up to my head and grabbing a clump of nice healthy hair.

I have found that when my hair is really short, I don't twist it as much. I think that is because it's virtually impossible to tie it in a knot. But I can't have long hair without it being all frizzy and torn up. Y'see, sometimes I don't pull the hair out. I just tie it in a horrid knot and then tear the knot out and leave the ends of my hair looking like blonde steel wool.

For the last few years, I have been plucking out gray hairs that I find. I can spend a good hour in front of the mirror doing that. But I think that's because I just don't like ageing and don't want my hair to be white/gray.

This is crazy: when I was a teenager, my sister actually said that my hair twisting was a form of masturbation. Ugh!! But, then I realised, it is very passifying for me. I do it practically 24 hours a day. Even when I go to sleep, I'm doing it. When I read, watch the telly, talk to someone, use the toilet, heck, I've even mastered the ability to do it while typing on my computer! Have I just replaced my "pretty pink" (my security blanket when I was a baby) or is this just a drug for me? Oh, one more thing: Usually, I don't realise I'm doing it. Back in 1972, when my dad told me that if he caught me twisting my hair again, he would cut out a long thick clump of my very long hair, within two minutes, there I was, doing it. Sure enough he took the scissors to me. The next day my mom took me to get it all cut off into a very short shag.

So, (sorry for the rambling on and on...my dad didn't call me Babbling Brooke all my life for nothing) with this said, is my problem truly trichotillomania?

I want to stop this. The few times I've seen someone else doing this, I see just how peculiar it looks.

So, can anyone help me???