ABSTRACT
Background: hirsutism is a clinical condition commonly encountered in the practice of primary care medicine. It is not only a source of psychological discomfort but also a probable sign of an underlying medical problem. The common causes of hirsutism are familial, idiopathic or polycystic ovaries. Dermatologists found that hirsutism has become a noticeable complain among Egyptian adolescent females
Objective: to assess the prevalence of hirsutism and study the most common causes in Egyptian adolescent females
Design: respective random sample of general population attending outpatient clinics and prospective evaluation of hirsute patients referred to our dermatologic clinics. Intervention [s]: Assessment of body hair using the standardized Farriman and Gallwey scoring system and an investigative protocol including detailed clinical assessment with endocrinology workup including estimations of free testosterone dehydroepiandrosterone and 17-alpha hydroxyprogestrone in blood, using the immuno-enzymatic assay [ELISA] and abdominopelvic ultrasound of the ovaries
Result: of 600 adolescent females for whom adequate data were available, 60 cases [10 %] had hirsutism, among them 43 [70.8 %] had mild hirsutism [score of 6 - 9], 15 [25 %] had moderate [score of 10 -14] and 2 [4.2 %] had severe hirsutism [score more than 151. The etiology of hirsutism were idiopathic in 51.7 %, polycystic ovaries in 38.3% drugs in 5 %, combined ovarian and adrenal causes in 3.3 % and adrenal cause in 1.7 %
Conclusions: hirsutism is as common a problem in the Egypt as elsewhere in the world. Idiopathic hirsutism and polycystic ovaries syndrome are the most frequently defined "causes" of hirsutism among Egyptian adolescent females. Whereas congenital adrenal hyperplasia is relatively uncommon cause. We recommended that every case of hirsutism must be investigated thoroughly and the hormonal analysis must be estimated regardless of any obvious causes present as it may indicate a serious underlying medical problem such as tumors of ovaries or adrenals, PCO or Cushing disease