I have been picking my hair for years. I would like to think that I stopped, but I know that I keep picking at it. I now have a series of bald areas where the picking has taken out some hair. Is this permanent? Will it come back if I stop picking at it? Can it be transplanted if it does not grow back?
The medical condition is called trichotillomania. Children or adults sometimes twist or pull their hair, brows, or lashes until they come out. This hair pulling is sometimes a coping response to unpleasant stress and occasionally is a sign of a serious problem of an obsessive disorder. If the picking stops early enough, then the traction alopecia that results will reverse. However, this is not what usually happens as most of the people with this disorder continue to pick on the hair until it eventually becomes lost permanently. The best way to determine permanence is to look at the area with a high-powered microscope. Active areas of trichotillomania show blunted, short hairs which are signs of recent regrowth of plucked hair. When these short hairs do not show up under microscopic examination, the traction alopecia is probably permanent.
Yes, hair transplants can put the hair back in the area of alopecia produced by trichotillomania, but the problem with doing it is that the person will just pluck out the same hair again and again and produce the bald spot. What is the point of transplanting the area of alopecia only to have it returned? The key is to address the trichotillomania from a medical/psychiatric medication or therapy approach and solve the underlying problem. Once the patient knows that the cause of the trichotillomania has been fully addressed, then the reward can be a hair transplant to put their hair back.
In reference to Trichotillomania; I am quite disappointed with your answer to the question. I have had Trichotillomania for 24 years. I have tried therapy and medication. Nothing seems to work. I realize through that therapy what my triggers are. But what I still can not seem to do is stop the compulsion. I believe that if I had a transplant or whatever you do to put hair back on your head, I would not pull. I think that if I had something to see (a full head of hair) I would be less apt to carry out the obsession. There is no cure for OCD, just medication and behavior modifications. So, telling someone to get to the root (no pun intended) of their problem and then to reward themselves is quite cold. Please read about this disorder some more and please, your a physician, learn to spell Trichotillomania. Thanks for reading my comment.
Dear sirI am suffering from trichotelomania from last 5 years. First I was unknown about such a desease.I came to know about this from your website.
I frequently pluck out my hairs and cannot stop myself. The hairs again grow after few days.
I am really get tired of this bad habit and get frustated. Kindly convey me the solution of this.
Thanking youVinu
I have had trich for the last 5 years. I have just turned 19 this past week. I have stopped trich completely for a week a few months back, and then started back up. Slowly I have done it less and less. At one point in time I had practically no hair on the left side of my scalp.
Now I have no bald spots, but a few prickly areas of new hair. I do believe some of my hair will never return, for before trich I had thick hair. And now, when I fix it, it doesn’t seem as thick. Although I am lucky in the fact that I went from thick hair to less thick hair, and not thin hair to even thinner.
I don’t think there is any “fix” to this OCD. It’s a disorder, not a disease. There’s no bacteria or virus, it’s a mental issue. And yes, seeing a psycologist would probably help most, but it’s not any type of “cure”. I think the indivdual has to be realy to stop. But as Dr. Phil said “you can’t quit habits, you replace them”.
So I suggest getting some sort of stress ball, silly putty, play dough, or even “worry beads” to “finger” and keep your hands busy. Then, once you stop messing with your hair, and start messing with an obect of your choice, you can wean yourself off it. That is how I stopped for that week. But where I failed is that I “rewarded” myself with pulling out more. Very idiodic, I know.
I wish luck to all who suffer from this embarassing, little known disorder. Hopefully we can all have a proud full head of hair again before we die. Enjoy our full bodied head of hair once again.
P.S.- Laura, while you were busy criticizing the docotr’s spelling, you should’ve spell checked your own message instead. You said “your a physician” and it should have been “you’re”. So, it wasn’t necessarily a mis-spelling, but you used the wrong word.