Women with beards were considered a curious freak of nature long ago. They were often displayed as “bearded ladies” at fairs and exposed to the ridicule of others. Even today in the 21st century, many affected people can hardly lead a normal life. They hide, are ashamed of their appearance, a normal sex life is for many sufferers of hirsutism only an unrealizable dream. Yet hirsutism – a hormonally induced excessive hair growth on certain parts of the body – is a medical problem that can certainly be treated.
Heavy hair growth in hirsutism.
In women with hirsutism, a dark lady’s beard appears on the upper lip, and the hairline slowly recedes further and further up and back. On the body, the hair increases more and more: on the arms, on the chest, on the back. Many women also suffer psychologically from this male appearance.
Many women with hirsutism also fight with all kinds of remedies, ointments and vitamin supplements against acne, a skin problem that most people leave behind with puberty.
Hair growth begins with puberty
Hirsutism begins insidiously in most sufferers: the first signs typically appear while hormones are taking their first effect and puberty sets in. The increase of unwanted hair on the face, hair growth on the legs and often even on the whole body intensifies over time.
Women feel that their attempts at treatment, such as depilatory creams or bleaching the hair on the face and arms, only increase the hair growth. However, this has nothing to do with their intervention, but much more to do with the effect of the body’s own hormones.
Like the body of every woman, the hormonal glands of hirsutism sufferers produce both female and minute amounts of male hormone (testosterone). The causes of hirsutism in 95 percent of cases lie in the area of this hormonal control. At the same time, the body of most women does not secrete excessive amounts of testosterone, as medicine thought for a long time. Rather, in such cases, the skin simply reacts markedly strongly to these actually normal amounts of testosterone.
Hirsutism: body hair as a factor of suffering
The consequences of this oversensitive skin often complicate the whole life for the affected women. Especially at an age when girls have to learn to deal with the physical consequences of puberty and want to have their first experiences with sexuality, those affected by hirsutism are often pushed to the social sidelines.
Acne on the face and strong body hair, not only in the pubic area, but also on the legs, in the face, in bad cases even hair growth on the chest and back make a relaxed contact with one’s own physicality almost impossible. Acne, which often affects not only the face but also the chest and back, is often mistaken for a lack of hygiene. Thus, affected women and girls often feel socially isolated.
PCO syndrome as one of the causes
However, hirsutism is not a fate that simply has to be accepted. There are several treatment approaches to counteract hair growth. The first is to make sure that the patient’s problems are truly from an excessive reaction to normal amounts of testosterone. A simple blood test can prove this.
The second most common cause of hirsutism is the so-called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO syndrome, PCOS for short). This malfunction of the ovaries can be detected in a gynecological examination with ultrasound.
Often, PCO syndrome (PCOS) goes hand in hand with obesity and metabolic disorders. Hypersensitivity and PCO syndrome (PCOS) together account for about 95 percent of all cases of hirsutism.
Often, this clinical picture also occurs during menopause, when the body’s own hormone production decreases. Other causes, for example, hirsutism that occurs during pregnancy or growths that produce hormones, are exceedingly rare.
