Clinical Observation of N-acetylcysteine in the Treatment of Child Trichotillomania / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND@#Trichotillomania (TTM) is a medical condition that involves recurrent and irresistible urges to pull out their own hair. TTM generally follows a chronic course in most patients and is difficult to treat and manage. Recently, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has shown efficacy in the treatment of TTM.@*OBJECTIVE@#The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of treatment with NAC in trichotillomania children younger than 13 years of age.@*METHODS@#The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of treatment with NAC in trichotillomania children younger than 13 years of age.@*RESULTS@#The mean age of patients was 10.7 years; 8 were boys and 7 were girls. They presented with several asymptomatic focal patches of hair loss with different hair lengths on scalp. The dermoscopic findings were broken hairs, v-sign hairs, coiled hairs, and focal erythema. 10 out of 15 patients had a good response to NAC, whereas 5 patients did not respond to the treatment. The differences between the 2 groups were the treatment duration and total NAC doses. The effective group had a mean NAC of 973 mg/day for 11.5 weeks, while the non-effective group had a 1060 mg/day dose for 4 weeks.@*CONCLUSION@#NAC could be an effective and safe treatment option for TTM in children.