I’m not sure whether eyelash pulling is as common as pulling hair from the head, but I have come across a number of people who do this. Whilst I do not do it myself, it is perfectly understandable and comparable to the feeling of pulling hair from anywhere else on the body.

People who pull their eyelashes will sometimes pull out whole sets. Not only this, but the skin around the eyelashes can become swollen and sore. Eyelash pulling often creates painful emotions in those who do it, down to the fact that missing sets of eyelashes are often noticeable – as in the case of bald patches on the scalp or eyebrows.

How to Stop Eyelash Pulling?

Even though I don’t have experience of it myself, the single most common home treatment I have heard is to put vaseline on the eyelashes to make it harder to get a hold of them and pull them out.

If you pull your eyelashes, what do you do to make yourself stop or to reduce the effects?

I decided to do a little search for the statistics of how many people pull out their own hair. Whilst this may not offer much comfort, it always helps to know you are not alone, that it is not ‘weird’.

1. How Many People Have Trichotillomania?

This is unclear due to the fact that many people who pull out their hair go untreated and some do not even realise the condition has a name. The estimates I have found state figures of around 2% of the population (I think this applies to America rather than the UK). As stated above, I read many years ago that it was as common as biting nails, but I am not sure about this.

Cases of trichotillomania (or TTM/ trich) have become more common in recent years. This is probably due to the fact that people are hearing more of the condition and people are therefore more open about it. However, I would still say that there is a lot more to be done to make this condition better understood.

2. What Age Is Most Common For Trichotillomania?

Anyone of any age can develop trichotillomania. However, most sources state that it is most common in the first 20 years of life, though even more so in children between the ages of 9 and 13.

3. Does Trichotillomania Affect Men and Women?

Trichotillomania can affect both men and women. However, statistics say that there are more women with the condition. This does not mean to say that it is ‘unusual’ for a man to develop trichotillomania. Amongst younger children the number of girls and boys to have the condition is fairly equal.

4. Do People Stop Pulling Their Hair?

Trichotillomania is not something that you can just ‘stop doing’. So if you know anyone with trichotillomania then telling them to ‘stop pulling’ won’t help. However, there are people who have managed to stop pulling. In some cases this may happen naturally, as is common with young children who have TTM. In other cases this is down to treatment and a lot of determination and will power. Even so, there is no cure as such.

5. Other Statistics

Here is an interesting quote from Wikipedia. I know they are still doing research into this all the time:

“When genes that were suspected to cause trichotillomania were injected into laboratory mice in one study, the mice obsessively pulled out their fur and the fur of other mice in the cage. This suggests that the carrying of Trichotillomania is genetic, and may be passed down from generation to generation.”

Sources Used:

Wikipedia on Trichotillomania

Lucinda Ellery

Trichotillomania FAQ

Impulse control disorders are mental health disorders. They are disorders defined by a lack of control, rather than obsessive control. As such, the actions relating to impulse control disorders can happen without a person thinking, and can cause much distress in their lives.

Types of impulse control disorder:
- trichotillomania (hair pulling)
- dermatillomania (skin picking)
- intermittent explosive disorder (hot-headedness)
- kleptomania (stealing)
- pathological gambling
- pyromania (starting fires)

*For more information on any of these conditions please click on them to be referred to the Wikipedia article.*

Whilst these disorders may seem very different, they are based around the impulse that the sufferer has to perform certain actions.

Impulsivity

Impulsivity is what links all of these disorders together which leads to sufferers seeking short term gain or feelings with the result of a long term loss. For example, the short term relief of pulling hair is met with the long term loss resulting in feeling bad about yourself, baldness and so on.

Sufferers act on impulse rather than on thought. This happens to everyone to some degree in everyday life, but more people are prone to certain impulses than others for a variety of different reasons. Boredom can also lead to an increase in impulsive behaviour, as can the desire for certain sensations even if they may have negative long-term results.

Impulsivity is also linked to obsessive compulsive disorders and addiction.

OCD

Impulse control disorders are within the spectrum of obsessive compulsive disorders. Whilst OCD is commonly characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsion, both OCD and impulse control disorders involve rituals. In the case of trichotillomania these may include eating the hair, pulling ‘bad’ hairs and more.

Conclusion

This is an extremely brief overview of impulse control disorders. I am planning to learn and write more about all of these disorders, but there is a lot of information available online. Please see some of the links above for information on individual conditions.

What do you think?

Do you see the link between OCD and impulse control disorders? If you have one or more of the listed disorders, do you think it is similar to any of the others? Does your disorder involve rituals?

That is why it is so important to get the word out. There are some great Squidoo lenses on the subject, and I am going to create some more so that more and more people can learn about the condition:

How to Help Others With Trichotillomania

Stop pulling your hair out! Learning to deal with trichotillomania

Or you can join the Trichotillomania Squidoo group here and add your own pages. Please do your bit to get the word out if you know about the condition!

POSTED BY: mspennylane

Do you pull your hair from any part of your body? Do you find it hard to stop? Is it even pleasurable for you to do so?

I do, and it is pleasurable and reassuring. Such actions can be highly embarrassing, but are all associated with a condition known as trichotillomania and you are not alone.

What is Trichotillomania

You may never have heard of this word or of this condition, and to be honest it is a pretty scary word. But it doesn’t need to be. A good start is knowing how to pronounce it. Basically the trich part is pronounced ‘trick’ and the rest is as you would expect (or [trik-uh-til-uh-mey-nee-uh] as the dictionary puts it).

Trichotillomania is often shorted to ‘trich‘, and those suffering with the condition are often referred to as ‘trichsters‘. This is a friendly way of putting it, showing that the condition isn’t as scary as it seemed as first, and there are many, many trichsters out there.

Definition

The dictionary above described trichotillomania as ‘a compulsion to pull out one’s hair’. This doesn’t convey the half of it. Some people would describe trich as ‘hell’ as ‘crazy’ as ‘stupid’ or ‘ugly’. It can be so hard to understand why it happens, which is why it is easy to get lost thinking in these ways.

But just because trich can be stupid, or trich can be ugly, doesn’t mean that you are. Often people won’t even notice that you have it, or if they do they won’t care. Trichotillomania is a condition, one that hundreds, thousands, millions of people share with you.

This is only a starting point for information about trich. There will be more information to follow, and a good place to go are also forums. See the links section. This blog is here to help, and to raise awareness. It is also here to help me, by learning about my own trich. If you have trich or know about trich, please get in touch!