Hirsutism

Hello!

My name is Chander Mohan Batra. I am a senior consultant. I will be talking to you today about Hirsutism. Hirsutism is a name given to extra hair in the females on the face, body, chest, the upper arms, lower arms etc. The causes of this Hirsutism or extra hair is excessive male hormones called androgens. These androgens are secreted from the adrenal glands or the ovaries in the female. The ovaries in the female can become big and can become cystic and produce a disease called Polycystic Ovarian Disease, PCOD. In this disease, extra male hormones are produced. Or there can be tumors in the ovary called ovarian tumors which can produce extra androgens which causes this. In the adrenal gland also, there could be an adrenal tumor which can produce extra androgens. The third cause which is found in many patients is neither the ovarian hormones nor the adrenal hormones are excessive.

There is no extra hormone production but the skin is extra sensitive to the normal amount of hormones that are present in the body. The treatment of this disease Hirsutism depends on the cause. If you have ovarian cause called PCOD- it depends on what the patient wants. If the patient wants children then we induce ovulation by some drugs. If the patient wants to get rid of abnormal periods and get rid of extra hair we have certain drugs which are called as anti-androgen drugs which do the needful. If the cause is an ovarian tumor or an adrenal tumor then the answer is surgery. Besides these options, there is always the option of removal of unwanted hair. The cosmetic methods like waxing threading and the best method are laser treatment. With the use of the Laser, you can get rid of hair for as long as 1-2 years and this is the best method available. The other methods threading and waxing are useful and less costly but they are painful and not effective in the long run.

Thank You!