Hirsutism. Female excess hair according to male patterns. Yes, after a few years the high word is out. I suffer from hirsutism, or hair in places where you normally don't see it in a woman. Well, you now know what hirsutism is, but how it arises and what it does to you… I'm going to tell you a little more about that.
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It doesn't make me happy, but I'm glad it's a little clearer now. For some years now I have been sitting in front of the tube every evening with a cup of tea and tweezers. I pull black hair from my chin and upper lip like a madman. At some point it just becomes an obsession. They are so hard and thick that you can feel them sitting around the same spots every day. And once felt, they really have to come out, otherwise I'll keep punning.
People sometimes ask if I've been scratching myself. I always say yes, as if I have a daily tickle on my chin, simply because I don't dare to say that I suffer from beard growth. I find it terrifying that I am now open about this on paper, and therefore on the internet.
But I'm sure there are other women like me who recognize this problem. Not only do you see it on the outside, inside there can be a lot of uncertainty bubbling up. Good to write about.
Since the second was born, my hormones are quite upset and I notice that in everything. Mees is now one and a half years old, but I still have the idea that I'm in a mess.
My nails are peeling, not only are they getting shorter, but the top layer is peeling off in some places. In addition, I suffer from acne much more, something I have never had such a problem with, I have a very sweaty head and so the hairs in my face have suddenly started to grow like cabbage, and I am not talking about the down hairs. More and more often tweezers are replaced by a razor, simply because it is impossible with tweezers. And yes, I know what they say about hair growing and coming back faster. But pulling out about 30 hairs from your chin every night is simply no longer an option.
Excess hair is a condition in which too many and too thick hairs grow in places where there are normally no or only thin hairs. Women have about the same amount of hair as men. Some women have thicker and darker hair than the average woman. A nice fact is that after the menopause about 80% of women suffer from excessive hair.
But what exactly is the difference between these two forms of excessive hair?
With hirsutism there is excessive hair growth in women according to a male hair pattern. Dark and thick stiff hairs then grow in places where normally only men develop these hairs and women usually have down hair. Think of hair on the face, chest, back, thighs and a layer on the abdomen, for example between the navel and the pubic area.
With hypertrichosis do you have stronger hair growth compared to others of the same race and age, hair growth increases in areas that are normally slightly hairy.
There are several reasons for this excessive hair growth. Part of it is hereditary, which we call familial Hirsutism. The cause is often a too high sensitivity of the hair follicles to a certain hormone that is formed from the male hormone testosterone.
This hormone is also produced in women, including in the ovaries. If there is an overproduction of this hormone, we call it hormonal hirsutism. The latter case -as a result of medication- is mainly seen in women who suffer from the menopause and are being treated for it.
In my case there is in any case a disturbance in the hormones and because that can also have unpleasant causes, I am checked in the hospital just to be sure.
The excessive hair growth can in any case be treated in different ways:
When shaving, waxing and depilating with creams you run into the well-known problems of hair growth and possible irritation after shaving the skin. Epilation is rather time-consuming and does not give lasting results. Lasering works and flashing with the IPL method (Intense Pulsed Light) also appears to have an effect. Finally, medication could also help.
Because I came to the doctor with this problem and she clearly marked it as hirsutism, I was also referred to a clinic where they now laser my face. Gee! how happy I am! It will take some treatments and it will take a few months but I can't wait to see and feel the results!
Get rid of those tweezers, in future only with a cup of tea and a good series on the couch!
