My Teenage Daughter Keeps Losing Eyebrow Hair While Sleeping

My 13 year old daughter annually starts complaining about the area over her right eye hurting. Within about 2-3 weeks the eyebrow hair will fall out while sleeping, or I just have to rub my finger over it and it comes off. This has happened 3 years in a row. Her pediatrician thought she may have used a razor the first time but now I KNOW thats not happening. I personally see it rub off at the root. What is happening?

It sounds like she might have a medical condition known as trichotillomania, which is a compulsion to pull hair out (which could also explain pain felt in the area). This can occur while your daughter is sleeping, and she is probably unaware that she’s doing it. If a doctor looks at it with magnification, he will see “Exclamation point” hairs and broken hairs at different levels in the eyebrow hair.

You could treat it by putting a head band around her head securing the eyebrows within it. Keep this for 3 months or so and see if the hair grows back. That would confirm the diagnosis. Often, a doctor can look at the eyebrows and see changes in the hair that point to this diagnosis.