In the News – Woman with Trichotillomania Pretended to Have Alopecia Areata

Snippet from the article:

A mum who has hidden behind the hair loss condition alopecia for the last 20 years has bravely revealed a secret compulsion to tear out her own hair that has tormented her since she was a child.

Zena Williams was called ‘cancer face’ for wearing a wig at school and for more than two decades she has allowed anyone who noticed her bald patches to believe that she has the auto immune condition that causes her hair to fall out on its own. But in the wake of No Pulling Week, the mum-of-one has finally revealed that she has been pulling out her own hair since she was a child.

At various stages in her life, Zena has been left almost completely bald by her compulsive addiction to hair-pulling – a little understood psychological condition called trichotillomania.

Read the rest — Mum pretended to have alopecia for 20 years – in fact she was pulling all her hair out

Unfortunately, decades of pulling out her hair probably has resulted in some permanent loss. She says she has stopped pulling out her scalp hair, but still pulls out arm and leg hair. Hopefully she gets some sort of treatment for this compulsion.