Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse
Published on: May 17, 2011
Trichorrhizophagia
1Department of Dermatology, Hospital Clinic University of Barcelona, University of Barcelona, Villarroel 170 08036 Barcelona, Spain. rgrimalt@medicina.ub.es
Abstract:
Trichotillomania is a form of hair loss characterized by an irresistible compulsion to pull out or twist and break off one's own hair. Extracted hairs are often manipulated, examined, or played with before being discarded or eaten. We report an obsessive-compulsive 65-year-old lady who exclusively ate the root of the hair she plucked, in a very selective type of trichophagia. We suggest the new term trichorrhizophagia which means "eating the root of the hair" (from the Greek rhiza rho iota zeta alpha = root) to name this condition.
Related Concept Videos
Taste Buds and Receptors
American Trypanosomiasis
Trichomoniasis
Esophageal Achalasia
Pyloric Obstruction
Irritable Bowel Syndrome

