Excess hair growth can cause great psychological distress or social embarrassment. It is often a treatable problem, but many women do not realize that treatments are available. For most women, the tendency towards hirsutism is inherited. Excess hair growth may be present in both the female and male family members. Hirsutism usually begins around puberty, but mild hirsutism can start at any age.
Most women gradually develop more facial or body hair with age.
Because it is not considered a suitable topic of conversation, many affected women do not realize how common a problem it is. Rarely, hirsutism is a result of a serious underlying disorder, but this can easily be ruled out with a medical history and some simple blood tests. Because treatments are available, any woman who has trouble controlling body or facial hair by mechanically removing it may benefit from medical evaluation. Endocrinologists are concerned about underlying medical problems if the hirsutism is severe, if it is accompanied by menstrual problems, if there are other features to suggest a marked increase in androgens such as baldness or deepening of the voice, or if accompanied by obesity or type 2 diabetes. Women with mild hirsutism and regular menstrual cycles rarely have an underlying medical problem.