Hirsutism / Hypertrichosis Public service announcement

1. Hirsutism/HypertrichosisPublic service announcement By Sidharth Bedi

2. Hirsutism • is excessive thick or dark hair in women in locations of the body where men usually have more hair, such as the mustache and beard areas, central chest, etc.

3. Hypertrichosis • is simply an increase (a large increase) in the amount of hair growth anywhere on the body. It can be localized (focused on a certain location on the body) or generalized (located around entire body)

4. Differences: • -Hirsutism affects women only while Hypertrichosis affects either. • Hirsutism is frequetly caused by high levels of a male sex hormone called androgen • Hypertrichosis is mainly caused by endocrine dysfunction

5. Symptoms of Hypertrichosis: • Excessive hair growth

6. Symptoms of Hirsutism • Hair Growth on the abdomen, breasts, upper lip or any other male-oriented hair growth in women • irregular menstrual periods • acne • loss of feminine body shape • signs of masculinity (deep voice, male pattern baldness, enlarged shoulder muscles)

7. Causes of Hypertrichosis • Gene: it could be caused due to a congenital defect (very rare) • Drugs: it could be caused due to a side-effect of certain drugs. drugs that affect the balance of hormones or involved in hair production could cause Hypertrichosis • irregularities in the metabolism • Cancer: cancer is one of the major causes. hair growth becomes normal once the affected part is removed

8. Causes of Hirsutism • High levels of male sex hormones called androgens • This ^ can be caused by many things: • Tumors • Cushing Syndrome(where your body is exposed to high levels of cortisol[a steroid hormone]) • Drugs • Anabolic Steroids • And is some cases, Unknown

9. How it is digonosed • Hypertrichosis: • doctors do a physical observation, asking about the patients drug history • or a blood test that tests the DNA for defects • Hirsutism: • doctors examine you and take a medical history. blood tests and CT scans, MRI can also be used. Blood tests for hormone lvls, and scans to look for turmors.

10. Treatment: • This depends on what is the underlining cause of the disease, however there is no FDA approved drug for treatment of these conditions: • if drugs are the cause, stop taking the drug or ask doctor for other drug. • if it is a tumor, the tumor could be surgically removed. • -if overweight, losing weight will help decrease testosterone lvl • -Another way to treat excess hair is removing it...shaving, waxing, lazer-ingcan remove the hair. any permanent solution however involve destroying the hair follicles