Hirsutism: Or something else? Differential Diagnosis

Congenital malformations, deformities, and chromosomal abnormalities (Q00-Q99).

  • Hermaphroditism verus (hermaphroditism).

Endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases (E00-E90).

  • Abnormal cortisol metabolism
  • Adrenogenital syndrome (AGS) – autosomal recessive inherited metabolic disorder characterized by disorders of hormone synthesis in the adrenal cortex; these disorders result in deficiency of aldosterone and cortisol; in girls, virilization (masculinization) and pubertas praecox (premature sexual development) in boys, respectively.
  • Obesity (overweight)
  • Acromegaly – disease caused by overproduction of growth hormone (somatotropic hormone (STH), somatotropin); with marked enlargement of the body limbs.
  • Cushing’s disease/Cushing’s syndrome – disease in which a tumor in the ACTH-producing cells of the pituitary gland produces too much ACTH, resulting in increased stimulation of the adrenal cortex and, as a consequence, excessive cortisol production.
  • Hyperprolactinemia – increase in the level of prolactin in the blood.
  • Ovarian hyperandrogenemia – too much androgen production in the ovaries.
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCO syndrome) – symptom complex characterized by hormonal dysfunction of the ovaries (ovaries).
  • Syndromes of extreme insulin resistance (decreased effectiveness of endogenous insulin at the target organs skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and liver).
  • Premature andrenarche – premature onset of adrenal maturation, characterized in girls by an increase in adrenal 17-ketosteroid production (usually: from about age nine). At this time, the prohormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfated form (DHEAS) increases measurably.

Skin and subcutaneous (L00-L99).

  • Hypertrichosis cubiti (HC or “hairy elbows syndrome”, HES) – very rare form of localized hypertrichosis (androgen-independent increased body and facial hair).

Neoplasms – tumor diseases (C00-D48).

  • Adrenal neoplasms, unspecified – neoplasms arising from the adrenal gland.
  • Ovarian neoplasms, unspecified – neoplasms originating from the ovaries (ovary)
  • Thecom – rare, usually benign (benign) tumor arising from the theca cells of the ovaries.

Pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium (O00-O99).

  • Pregnancy-associated hyperandrogenemia (overproduction of male sex hormones) as seen in corpus luteum hyperreactivity.

Medications