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      A Wikipedia Entry: Trichotillomania


Trichotillomania causes one to pull out one's own hair. One suffering from the disease can't resist the impulse. Trichotillomania usually affects the scalp, but also the eyelashes, eyebrows, or pubic area. It is not related to rashes, itching, or anything physical, really. There is only a feeling of tension, at first, and then, after the hair-pulling, a feeling of release/gratification. Often, one's hair will grow back, though in the worst cases, it will not. One thirty-five-year-old female, when asked by her therapist the extent of her hair-loss, removed her wig. It was remarked, rather unprofessionally, that she resembled a brown-eyed albino. No data currently details how common trichotillomania is exactly, but there are surely more cases than recorded, and more cases among women than men, unlike adultery.		                        
                             
                                   
                             
                 
Short fiction by Matthew Salesses has appeared or is forthcoming in Glimmer Train, Hobart, Mid-American Review, Pleiades, Quick Fiction, Monkeybicycle, among others, and has received awards from Glimmer Train, MAR, and IMPAC. He is writing nonfiction live online.