Hirsutism. That’s the clinical term for hormonal hair growth, and we’ll get into it a bit more in this first blog of November. Plus, we’ll talk about removing other unwanted hair, too.
Curse those hormones
There isn’t a woman out there who welcomes the site of random dark hairs showing up on areas where men typically grow hair: the face, chest, and back. Hirsutism is actually a condition of male-pattern hair growth in women. That’s why these darn hairs are showing up in unfeminine spots.
Affecting about 5 out of every 100 women, hirsutism is fueled by androgens, which are male hormones. All women produced androgens. During puberty, teenage ovaries produce a mix of female and male sex hormones. This is why we start to grow pubic hair and hair in our armpits. You can thank this hormone mix for the endless ritual of shaving, plucking, waxing, and applying harsh depilatory creams to remove those very same hairs.
Hirsutism is different. It happens later, and the hairs grow in randomly. They tend to be spotty, unlike the uniform patterns associated with our pubic or underarm hair.
As we mentioned last month, hirsutism is more often than not caused by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This causes a woman to develop benign cysts on her ovaries, and this can mess with hormone production. Other causes of hirsutism can be adrenal gland disorders where they abnormally produce steroid hormones. Cushing’s syndrome occurs when your body is exposed to high levels of the hormone cortisol, which can happen from taking prednisone for a long period of time or if your adrenal glands are making too much cortisol. Hirsutism can also be a side effect of drugs to treat endometriosis or depression.
Hair be gone
OK, no one wants these ugly hormone-driven hairs. But more and more people don’t want many of our “normal” hairs either, you know, in the pubic area, on the legs, and in our armpits. So, why not get rid of all of it with laser hair removal at AesthetiSpa?
Laser hair removal simply uses laser energy to damage or destroy the hair follicles producing hair in areas you don’t want it. For these procedures, we deliver laser energy down onto your unwanted hair. The light energy wavelength is matched to the melanin in your hair. The hair shaft absorbs the light energy and it instantly converts to heat. This heat travels down the hair shaft into the follicle, damaging or destroying the follicle preventing it from growing hair in the future.
November is a great time to start working on those unwanted hormonal hairs or any other unwanted hair. It’s going to take a series of laser hair removal sessions to catch enough of the hairs in the growth cycle, which is when the laser energy can effectively damage the follicle. So, why not start the process now, during the cool winter months when we’re not heading to the coast?
Call us at AesthetiSpa, 843-849-9925, and let’s get started removing your unwanted hair this November.