Trichotillomania Treatment
Trichotillomania is a disease that most of us are aloof too but those who have it know how serious and bad it is. Trichotillomania is a compulsive urge to eat or pull one’s own hair. The disease has led to noticeable hair loss, baldness, social impairment and many other side effects in many.
Trichotillomania is really difficult to treat. People who suffer from these disease work tirelessly to find a cure for it but mostly to no avail. The common areas from where a person suffering from trichotillomania is most likely to pull his hair from include:
- Eyebrows
- Scalp
- Eyelashes
- Hands
- Arms
- Public hair
Symptoms Of Trichotillomania
Most people who suffer from Trichotillomania start pulling out hair from their scalp. When the disease progresses, they start taking it out from the pubic areas, under arms, chest, bear and other areas mentioned above. You can easily find out if you have Trichotillomania as its symptoms start appearing quite early. Some of the symptoms include:
- People with Trichotillomania tend to exhibit different hair lengths; where as some hairs are broke, others have blunt ends
- The new hair growth is not even and has tapered ends
- Broken mi-shaft
- Uneven stubble
- Individuals suffering from the disease tend to pull out one hair at a time but the hair pulling episodes become longer and frequent
- Uneven hair growth and unusual hair shape
- Low self esteem: people with the disease tend to have a very low self esteem which is an effect of all the fun making that their peers do when they pull out hair in public
Causes Of Trichotillomania
Several factors may lead one to develop Trichotillomania. People who suffer from anxiety, depression and OCD are most likely to have the disease. On the other hand, it is also believed that people develop this disease or habit of pulling out hair under stress and use it as a stress manager and stress breaker after they are in a stressful situation.
Medically, researches suggest that the basal ganglia play a huge role in making one form the habit of Trichotillomania. There are also studies and researches that say that people with low volumes of cerebella are most likely to have the disease.
In the past, MRI scans of people suffering from this disease were taken and it was concluded that individuals that have more gray matter tend to suffer from the disease too.
Trichotillomania is not very common and therefore, opinions regarding the root causes of the disease are mixed.