Excess Hair
Excess hair in women often appears in the places where men have body hair, such as the upper lip, chin and the chest (including around the nipples). The excess hair is usually coarse and dark and grows longer than normal.
A couple of reasons for excess hair:
Extra-responsiveness to hormones. All women have a small amount of the ‘male’ hormone, testosterone, circulating in their bodies. It is produced mainly by the adrenal glands, which are situated over the kidneys. If the skin is extra-responsive to it, testosterone encourages hair growth on the upper lip, chin, chest, lower abdomen. The hormone levels are normal; the problem is that the skin is too responsive to testosterone. Women with this problem gradually develop more body hair from puberty until the menopause, after which the amount of body hair slowly lessens – except for facial hair, which continues to increase. This is can be inherited or can be because of use of steroids.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is the cause of hairiness in some women. This syndrome is usually caused by an imbalance between the pituitary and adrenal glands with cysts on the ovary. As a result, the level of male hormone rises.
Suggested treatements: