A Caller Pulls Out His Own Hair — And Eats It

January 19, 2011
Photo: The Howard Stern Show

Bill Kammerer called in to discuss trichotillomania, a condition that causes him to compulsively pull out his own hair and eat it.

Howard asked if voices told him to pull out his hair, but Bill denied it: “It’s not a voice. It’s become just like breathing. I don’t even notice it, really.”

Bill said the condition began when he was very young: “It’s like a Tourette’s sort of compulsion.”

The condition escalated from pulling nose hairs and eyelashes when Bill was 7 years old: “That’s when the hair on my head started. That’s when the fun began.”

Asked if other children made fun of his self-inflicted bald spots, Bill nodded: “Yeah. It was pretty rough. It got pretty bad when I got to high school.” Bill later claimed he didn’t actually eat the hair: “I don’t swallow it, I just chew it up a little bit…it’s really nasty.”