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Hairs (white) On My Breast, Is It Trichotillomania Or OCD ?
i have fine hairs (white) on my breast. that are everywhere. i feel the need to pluck them..although they cause me no discomfort? What are these little hairs? Do i have Trichotillomania or just OCD?
Hi!caliboobear,
Welcome to HealthcareMagic forum,
I don't think you are suffering from trichotillomania or ocd ...as you are not actually doing it and is only expressing your feelings.In trichotillomania, patients actually pull out their scalp hair esp from the crown area ,so that appear to be cut from the shaft .
take care,
Dr.chawda
Hi,
Those fine white hair must be the normal mammalian body hair.
If you have a strong impulse of plucking them which you can not resist, then you have OCD. Trichotillomania is a kind of OCD, but we usually associate it with scalp hair. I am not sure whether to label your problem as trichotillomania. But anyways, the treatment remains the same....Counselling
you have not mentioned you age which can only help in understanding the nature of your problem
Generally in the mid adult period whenever people see white hairs comming up their fisrt intention to remove it as they appear so that they can hide the feeling of becoming old which later becomes a habit particulaly when they are proocuupied with sone intense thought
but if age cannot be considered as a factor consult a dermaotogist to understand the cause for white hair growth
Trichotillomania can be diagnosed only when people continue to do it even after patches appera in the scalp disfiguring thier looks but still they find difficult to avoid the habit. some also experience intense pleasure in the pain the get by puuling out their hair whenever they are anxious
Your description also does not show symptoms of OCD. However consult a psychologist to understand you discmfort fully and get appropriate solutions
I would say that if the thoughts are repetitive, intrusive and causing you discomfort, then even if you are not pulling them out, you still may be considered to be having OCD with predominant obsessions (you are not acting out on your obsessions i.e you don't have compulsions)
The treatment can be both medicines and/or talking therapy. "Counseling" in its strict term does not help unless it is being used as a proxy word for psychotherapies (talking therapies).
If you have fine white hair on your body, may be they are downy hair. But if you are an adult you should not have them, as far as my limited knowledge goes, unless you have eating disorder like anorexia etc. But anyway, on this, I will defer to the experts.
Please seek professional help if this is severe/causing you much distress/affecting your life/to rule out any abnormality.
Good LUck
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Hairs (white) On My Breast, Is It Trichotillomania Or OCD ?
Hi!caliboobear, Welcome to HealthcareMagic forum, I don t think you are suffering from trichotillomania or ocd ...as you are not actually doing it and is only expressing your feelings.In trichotillomania, patients actually pull out their scalp hair esp from the crown area ,so that appear to be cut from the shaft . take care, Dr.chawda