EXCESSIVE BODY HAIR – INTRODUCTION
Nature isn’t fair. Just when a man is losing the hair on his head, a woman may be gaining a crop of unwanted hair elsewhere.
But the middle years of the menopause are not the only time an excess of hair can worry women — the problem may start in the teens.
The amount and distribution of body hair is often determined by our genes and varies with the race or ethnic group to which we belong.
Hirsutism, or excess of body or facial hair, is usually caused by an increase of the amount of androgen or male hormone in the female.
Women produce male hormones both from the ovaries and the adrenal glands, which lie above the kidneys and produce the “stress” hormones, adrenalin and cortisone. Some chemicals, which have this androgenic activity on the hairs, may be produced in the skin.
*119/71/1*
