Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
The major sign of hirsutism is coarse and pigmented body hair, appearing on places of the body where hair is not commonly found in women — primarily the face, chest and back. If hirsutism is caused by excessively high androgen levels, you may notice other signs.
Signs of hirsutism may include:
- Coarse, pigmented body hair, primarily on your face, chest and back
- A deepening voice
- Balding
- Acne
- Decreased breast size
- Enlargement of the clitoris
- Increased muscle mass
When to seek medical advice
Schedule an appointment with your doctor if you notice any of the following:
- Rapidly growing, unwanted hair on locations such as your upper lip, cheeks, chin, midchest, inner thighs or low back
- Gradually developing unwanted hair growth and irregular periods
- Male features, such as a deepening voice, balding, increased muscle mass and decreased breast size
- Unwanted hair growth that appears to be worsened by a medication
Women approaching menopause or in the early years of menopause may develop coarse chin or other unwanted facial hair, but this isn't considered hirsutism. Your doctor can help you distinguish between stray hairs that commonly develop at menopause and unwanted excess hair resulting from another disorder.
Prenatal care
If you're taking medications for hirsutism and would like to have a baby, talk to your doctor. Women who are taking certain medications to treat hirsutism are advised not to become pregnant. If you have hirsutism and irregular periods, you may have a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, which can cause reduced fertility. Consider discussing plans for a healthy pregnancy with your doctor.
- Hirsutism (excess hair). American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/hormone/210.html. Accessed Nov. 14, 2008.
- Bulun, S, et al. Physiology and pathology of the female reproductive axis In: Kronenberg HM, et al., eds. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. 11th ed. St. Louis, Mo.: W.B. Saunders; 2008.
- Evaluation and treatment of hirsutism in premenopausal women: An Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. Chevy Chase, Md.: The Endocrine Society. http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/93/4/1105. Accessed Nov. 14, 2008.
- Chang J, et al, eds. The Hormone Foundation's patient guide to the evaluation and treatment of hirsutism in premenopausal women. The Hormone Foundation. http://www.hormone.org/Resources/Patient_Guides/upload/Hirsutism_Patient_Guide.pdf. Accessed Nov. 14, 2008.
- Hirsutism. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec10/ch124/ch124c.html?qt=hirsutism&alt=sh#sec10-ch124-ch124c-989. Accessed Nov. 14, 2008.
- Hormones and the skin. American Academy of Dermatology. http://www.aad.org/media/background/factsheets/fact_hormones.html. Accessed Nov. 14, 2008.
- Azziz R. Hirsutism. In: Goldman L, et al., eds. Goldman: Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:1853.
- Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.4woman.gov/faq/polycystic-ovary-syndrome.cfm. Accessed Nov. 14, 2008.
