‘Two great options’
Katharine Phillips, MD, professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, said she has been using memantine for “quite some time” to treat her patients with skin-picking disorder, adding that she uses higher doses of the drug than were tested in the study.
Dr. Katharine Phillips
She noted that both NAC and memantine affect glutamate, an amino acid in the brain that is likely involved in repetitive physical or motor habits, such as hair pulling and skin picking.
“The good news is that we have two great options” for the treatment of trichotillomania and skin-picking disorder, said Dr. Phillips, and that both are easy to tolerate.
Future research should focus on longer trials of memantine and at higher doses, as well as other glutamate modulators, she said.
The study was funded by departmental research funds at the University of Chicago. Dr. Grant reported receiving research funding from Biohaven Pharmaceuticals and Janssen, as well as yearly compensation from Springer Publishing for his role as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Gambling Studies. He has also received royalties from American Psychiatric Publishing, McGraw Hill, Oxford University Press, and WW Norton. Dr. Phillips reported receiving royalties from American Psychiatric Publishing and an honorarium from the Merck Manual.
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.