Trichotillomania in children is the term given to a condition to best describe adolescents and small children pulling hair off their eyebrows, scalp, eyelashes or any other part of the body.
The consequences of these actions are very visible hairless patches.
Nearly two percent of the world's population is said to have been affected by this.
Even though the symptoms vary largely in body location, severity and treatment response, majority of the trichotillomania children pluck out enough amount of hair over a prolonged time period that their heads have hairless spots( or missing eyebrows, eyelashes, underarm or pubic hair).
The primary concern for any physician to diagnose pulling out hair is to exclude medical forms like tinea capitis and alopecia areta.
Additionally, the physician will measure the child's functioning, if possible from both teacher and parent, for him to determine if stress is one of the causes for pulling hair.
It is better to ensure that your child's hair is cut short and to sleep in use a cap or a net for the hair.
The child can be given objects like feathers, satin ribbons or pipe cleaners, something that gives the feeling of hair, to play with.
The habit of thumb sucking is closely related to trichotillomania in children.
The two habits have to deal with together as one could easily trigger off the other.
It is not a good idea to deal with any one of these habits one at a time.
The simplest way of treating trichotillomania in children all by you is to take away your kid's hand away from the hair and instead make sure your child is occupied with activities or fascinating objects he can play with.
And if trichotillomania in children is due to ritualistic repetitive behavior, it can be treated with medication, generally an antidepressant.
previous post
next post