Pulling out your own eyelashes is a recognized condition called trichotillomania, or hair-pulling disorder. It affects roughly 1 to 2 percent of the population, and eyelashes are one of the most common sites people target. If you’re doing this, you’re not weird or broken. Your brain is responding to a specific loop of urge, tension, and relief that has identifiable triggers and effective treatments.
What Drives the Urge to Pull
Eyelash pulling is rarely a conscious, deliberate choice. It typically starts with a physical sensation, like an itch, tingling, or a feeling that a lash is “wrong” or out of place. That sensation creates mounting tension, and pulling provides instant relief or even a brief feeling of satisfaction. Over time, this loop reinforces itself and becomes harder to interrupt.
Not everyone pulls the same way. Some people are fully aware of what they’re doing, often triggered by stress, anxiety, boredom, or frustration. Others pull in a more automatic, almost trance-like state while reading, watching TV, or lying in bed. Many people experience both patterns. The triggers vary from person to person, but negative emotions, idle hands, and certain postures (like resting your head on your hand) are consistently reported as common precursors.
Why It Keeps Happening
Trichotillomania is classified alongside OCD in diagnostic manuals, though it works differently. The core features are recurrent pulling that results in noticeable hair loss, repeated unsuccessful attempts to stop, and distress or impairment in daily life. It’s not caused by a skin condition or another medical problem.
The condition frequently travels with other mental health challenges. In a study of 304 adults with trichotillomania, depression was the most common co-occurring condition (present in 62% of cases), followed by OCD (36%) and skin-picking disorder (24%). Anxiety disorders, PTSD, attention deficit disorder, and binge-eating disorder also showed up at elevated rates. When these co-occurring conditions are present, pulling tends to be more severe, harder to control, and more disruptive to quality of life. This is one reason the behavior can feel so stubbornly persistent: it’s often tangled up with broader emotional regulation patterns.
What Chronic Pulling Does to Your Lashes
Eyelashes follow a growth cycle. The active growth phase lasts about 30 to 45 days, followed by a 2 to 3 week transition period, then a resting phase of 3 to 4 months before the lash naturally sheds. When you pull a lash out during its growth phase, the follicle restarts this cycle from the beginning, so regrowth can take several months.
If pulling is occasional, lashes will typically grow back normally. But repeated pulling over months or years can scar the follicle and permanently affect regrowth. According to the Mayo Clinic, constant pulling can cause scarring, infections, and other skin damage in the affected area. Some people notice their regrown lashes come in thinner, lighter, or more sparse than before. The longer chronic pulling continues, the greater the risk of permanent changes.
How Habit Reversal Training Works
The most effective behavioral treatment for eyelash pulling is habit reversal training, a structured approach that teaches you to recognize and interrupt the pulling cycle. It involves several practical components that build on each other.
First, you learn to identify your specific triggers and warning signs: the postures, emotions, times of day, and physical sensations that precede pulling. Then you practice a competing response, a physical action that’s incompatible with pulling. One commonly taught technique is to clench your fist, bend your arm at a 90-degree angle, and press it firmly against your side at waist level whenever you feel the urge. You hold this for about 60 seconds after taking slow, deep breaths.
Beyond the competing response, the therapy addresses the environments where pulling is most likely to happen. Practical adjustments include not resting your head in your hand while working, keeping your hands behind your head or under a pillow while lying in bed, and holding a pen in your idle hand. The goal is to increase the physical distance between your hands and your face at all times. These small postural changes can meaningfully reduce the number of pulling episodes, especially during the automatic, low-awareness type.
Physical Barriers and Fidget Tools
Many people find that giving their hands something else to do significantly reduces pulling. Fidget rings, textured pads designed to simulate the sensation of picking or pulling, magnetic sliders, and flexible fidget sticks are all popular options. Some people wear glasses (even non-prescription) as a physical barrier that creates an extra step between their fingers and their lashes. Others use adhesive bandages on their fingertips to reduce grip.
These tools work best as part of a broader strategy rather than a standalone fix. They’re especially useful during high-risk activities like watching TV, scrolling your phone, or sitting in meetings where your hands are otherwise idle.
Supplements and Medications
N-acetylcysteine (NAC), an over-the-counter amino acid supplement, has shown genuine promise for reducing pulling urges. In a double-blind clinical trial, NAC at doses between 1,200 and 2,400 mg per day was more effective than placebo and performed better than several prescription alternatives, with no reported adverse events. Case reports have documented complete hair regrowth within two to three months of starting NAC. It works by modulating a brain signaling system involved in compulsive behaviors.
For lash regrowth specifically, a prescription eyelash growth treatment (bimatoprost, sold as Latisse) can help accelerate regrowth and improve the length, thickness, and darkness of lashes. This doesn’t address the pulling behavior itself, but faster visible regrowth can improve self-image and reinforce motivation to keep working on the underlying habit.
Getting the Right Support
Trichotillomania responds best to therapists who specialize in body-focused repetitive behaviors, not general talk therapy. Look for providers trained in habit reversal training or a broader protocol called comprehensive behavioral treatment (ComB), which combines awareness training, competing responses, and emotional regulation strategies. The TLC Foundation for Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors maintains a directory of specialized providers.
Because depression, anxiety, and OCD so frequently co-occur with pulling, addressing those conditions simultaneously often leads to better outcomes. When underlying mood or anxiety disorders go untreated, the pulling tends to be harder to manage and more likely to return after periods of improvement.