Pulling Out Eyelashes – Why Do I Do It?
If you regularly find yourself pulling out eyelashes then you might wonder just what makes you do it. The truth is that it isn’t weird, and it’s a lot more common than you might realise. It’s part of a disorder known as trichotillomania, causing people to pull hair from various areas of the body.
Just about anyone can develop this hair pulling habit. It’s common to pull out hair from the scalp, but just about any area, including eyelashes, can be affected.
What Eyelash Pulling Can Do
When it comes to pulling out your hair you tend to do more damage physically than you do emotionally. However, the most noticeable physical symptom is baldness. It is a form of hair loss
Perhaps you’ve tried to stop but the pulling just gets worse and worse. If you want to cover up some of the effects then it’s often a good idea to try treatment as well as the use of false lashes and makeup.
Ways of Treating Eyelash Pulling
There is no miracle cure, but there are a number of methods that could help:
Medication, Psychotherapy, Keeping your hands busy, Making your eyelashes hard to pull, Meditation and relaxation.
When you visit a doctor they will not necessarily have heard of this condition before. Though millions of people have it, doctors will often misdiagnose it. This is why it’s so important that you understand it yourself.
Getting Support
Pulling out eyelashes might not be easy to stop, but people usually find that they can come up with their own ways of dealing with the problem. No one cure will work for absolutely everyone, so you may need to try a number of techniques.
One way is to talk to others in the same situation – the internet is great for doing this. They might also be able to give you advice, and if not they will at least provide you comfort in knowing that you aren’t alone.
I’ve been pulling my hair out since the age of 10 and am now in my twenties. One thing that’s helped me the most is to blog about pulling out hair, trying to raise awareness, exploring the different things that help trichotillomania, and connect with others along the way.