What is Trichotillomania?

Photo by PR Photos

 
London's Daily Mail newspaper ran a story earlier this week about one woman's 30-year battle with trichotillomania (TTM), which is worth checking out. It's estimated that two to 10 million Americans could suffer from this psychological disorder in which the person compulsively pulls out their hair, eyelashes or eyebrows.

TTM is a condition that should be taken seriously, as it could be a sign of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and other obsessive-compulsive habits. Additionally, those who have TTM and fail to get treatment can suffer permanent hair loss in the affected areas - which could be in the center of the scalp, as is common with many women, or even the eyelashes or eyebrows. I've treated a number of patients over the years who suffered from traction alopecia as a result of untreated TTM. One of them, who required eyelash transplants as a result, appeared with me on ABC's Good Morning America several years ago. Here's the clip.

So why is Olivia Munn's photograph at the top of this article? She admitted that she suffers from TTM a couple of years ago. Other stars that have been reported to suffer from it at one time or another are Charlize Theron, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and Megan Fox, among others.

Olivia Munn Admits Trichotillomania

"Photo by PR Photos"

Actress Olivia Munn's career seems to be taking off, but it appears the stress of stardom is taking its toll on the beauty.

Munn recently opened up about her struggles with Trichotillomania, an impulse control and anxiety disorder, which can cause those afflicted to pull out hair from any part of their body, including the scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes. She was quoted telling The New York Daily News, “I don’t bite my nails, but I rip out my eyelashes.”

Frequent hair-pulling traumatizes the follicles and can lead to permanent hair loss. Trichotillomania often leads to the total loss of eyelashes and eyebrows, in addition to bald spots in the scalp. The permanent hair loss can make it difficult for recovered trichotillomaniacs to return to a normal life. But there are treatment options available that can help these patients regain a natural look once their condition has been successfully treated, including:

• "Eyelash transplantation": A new surgical procedure that creates new living, growing eyelashes by transplanting hair from the scalp into the upper eyelids. Doctors can implant up to 100 new lashes per eye in a single session.
• "Eyebrow transplantation": Delicate single-follicle transplant procedure that recreates the eyebrows by imitating the unique angle and position of the original hair follicles. The popular technique has been described by Dr. Alan Bauman in multiple lectures and publications, include three widely popular hair transplant textbooks on hair transplantation including "Hair Transplantation" by Avram/Rogers, and "Hair Transplantation 5th Edition", edited by Unger/Shapiro.
• "Follicular-unit extraction": Minimally invasive, micro-surgical hair restoration procedure that uses tiny donor sites (as opposed to larger "strips" in micro-grafting) to transplant new follicles into balding areas of the scalp or eyebrows.

In many cases, trichotillomania has been successfully treated by Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy.  If you are suffering or recovering from trichotillomania, contact a ABHRS-certified hair restoration physician to help you determine which hair restoration procedure or treatment is right for you.