A Hope For Chronic Hair Pullers

A paper published in Archives Of General Psychiatry has given a new hope for those suffering from chronic hair pulling syndrome also known as trichitillomania.

Trichotillomania is characterized by repetitive urge to pull your hair from your scalp, eyebrows or even  other areas of your body like pubic hair. It results in noticeable hair loss

A trial was carried out to To determine the efficacy and tolerability of N-acetylcysteine in adults with trichotillomania. In a small group of 50 hair pullers ( 45 women and 5 men ) given over-the-counter antioxidant called N-acetylcysteine for 12 weeks had significant reductions in trichotillomania symptoms.

The study found that N-acetylcysteine demonstrated statistically significant reductions in trichotillomania symptoms. No adverse events occurred in the N-acetylcysteine group, and N-acetylcysteine was well tolerated.