My 10 year old son is pulling off his eyelashes since two months. He had thick long black lashes. Upon inquiry he told me that some of his friends at school was making fun of his long lashes and one of his friend suggested that he should do " something" of his long eyelashes.Since then he started to pull his upper eyelashes until they are all gone. I am so devastated of his bad habit. I've tried to stop him several times but he keeps on doing it since this has become his strong habit. I check his eyelashes every day and night to see if they are growing back but he pulls them off if he sees that they are starting to grow. Please help me ... i don't know what to do do help my son breaking off this bad habit.... plz any suggestions.
It sound like trichotillomania. It can be a compulsion and there is treatment available.
You can ask your son's pediatrician about it.
Here's O. link with a little information:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trichotillomania/DS00895
I started to pull mine when I was a teenager I still do only when i'm stressed & can't fall asleep I have pulled them till they were almost gone but they do grow back don't know why people say they don't because they do.Ask him if they make him uncomfortable or is he feeling like he has to make otehrs happy that he did do soemthing about them but pulling them isn';t the right way to go about it tell him he needs to choose other friends not the ones who are making fun of him for having beautiful eyelashes he isn't going to hurt them by having them they are here to stay.
Talk to his doctor. It is a compulsion and can be treated. Therapy would be a great idea as well to get to the root of why he is feeling like he needs to pull them before it prgresses to anything else.
Contact a behavioral specialist.
In the meantime, you could try a reward system when he does not pull at them. Every time you see him doing something else, comment on how proud you are of him for not pulling out his lashes. Keep him busy and get his mind off of the behavior.
Kids can say things like what was said to your child out of jealousy. Try finding pictures of famous male actors with long lashes and show them to him stating that its a good thing.
Hi T.,
If it were my son at that age, I would tell him several things:
1. 10-year-old boys can be mean. Even friends can be mean sometimes.
2. 10-year-old boys don't really think about what they are saying.
Often they don't mean what they say.
3. Criticism should be ignored. Shake it off. Walk away. Forget about it.
4. You may not appreciate this now, but in a few years, you will:
GIRLS LIKE BOYS WITH EYELASHES.
5. If you do not stop pulling your eyelashes out now, THEY WILL
STOP GROWING BACK (even though YOU/mom know they do grow back. They may not grow back as long.)
6. GIRLS DO NOT LIKE BOYS WITH NO EYELASHES.
7. What if the mean kids said they didn't like your brown eyes?
Would you pluck them out of your head? Don't listen to kids
who don't have your friendship and best interests at heart.
Stopping a bad habit is easier the sooner you get busy stopping it!
Good luck!
"Grams"
from the Pocono Mts. of PA
Talk with the social worker at school and your son's pediatrician. I have two students that do that in my classroom this year. We haven't found a way to help them yet, but talk with all of the professionals you can.
This happened to my best friend's son-he had strep that settled in his brain and manifested this behavior-antibiotics will do the trick-the hard part will be finding a physician that buys into this. A lady wrote a book about her son that suffered with this for years-and other very disturbing behavior-finally a pediatric neurologist diagnosed him-end of story-he later graduated from Carnegie Mellon University-good luck!
