Comprehensive clinical management of hirsutism

Hirsutism is an excessive body and facial hair growth in women in locations where is normally minimal or absent following a hair-male pattern. For this reason is not uncommon that hirsutism raises psychological, cosmetic and social concerns. There are many treatment modalities that can be summarised into two broad groups: pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatment. Until now, medical treatment has been designed to interfere with the synthesis of androgen at the ovarian or adrenal level, or inhibit the effect of androgen at the receptor level, although recent progresses test other options such as insulin modulators or ornithine decarboxylase inhibitors. Mechanical treatment includes laser hair removal, electrolysis, depilatory creams, plucking and waxing. This article presents a general overview of hirsutism treatment options.