Hypertrichosis - Causes and Symptoms

Definition

Hypertrichosis is a localized or generalized increase in body hair.

Unlike hirsutism, which affects normally hairless areas (such as the face, shoulders, lower abdomen, back and inner thigh), hypertrichosis can affect any part of the body, even those normally covered by hair. Furthermore, only in a minority of cases is hypertrichosis due to hormonal imbalance (while hirsutism is associated with an excess of androgens in about 70-80% of cases, with an increase in hair in areas that are normally hairless in women). and villous in adult male individuals).

Hypertrichosis can be congenital (present at birth) or acquired throughout life.

In the latter case, excessive hair growth may be due to drugs (including minoxidil, ciclosporin and corticosteroids by systemic or topical route), deficiency states (hypotension, anorexia, etc.) and paraneoplastic syndromes.

Hypertrichosis can also be seen in the presence of polycystic ovary syndrome and metabolic diseases, such as porphyrias.

Among the systemic pathologies in which hypertrichosis may appear are traumatic brain injuries, acrodynia (a form of poisoning caused by mercury), dermatomyositis, advanced HIV infection and pretibial myxedema (infiltrative dermopathy, sometimes found in Graves-Basedow disease).

Hypertrichosis can also occur in the event of repeated skin trauma or inflammation.

In some cases, hypertrichosis may depend on lysosomal storage diseases (Winchester syndrome) or on polyglandular deficiency syndromes (characterized by the simultaneous or sequential functional failure of various endocrine glands from multiple causes, including infection, heart attack and tumors) .

Congenital hypertrichosis is characterized by an excess of hair from birth or childhood; this form can be constitutional or present a genetic origin. Sometimes, excessive growth of body hair occurs as part of a rare family pathology (eg Ambras syndrome, also called werewolf syndrome).