estria

Hello ladies,

I am 42 years of age and I have been hirsute all of my life. This is the term that is used when you have hair that is considered to be "unfeminine" in our society. I say this because there are MANY women who have this problem, especially if they are of mediterranean descent (like myself) or are dark haired.

Despite this unfairness of society we are still faced with having to get rid of this or suffer all of our lives. I personally had a terrible time when I was young. The kids in school did not call me by my name but used the term "mustache face". I had hair on the sides of my face, above my upper lip, just underneath my lower lip and in between my eyebrows. At first the doctor referred me to an endocrinologist to check for a possible imbalance of hormones (sometimes this is caused by higher levels of androgens such as testosterone .. this can cause difficulties in getting pregnant). There was a slight elevation in testosterone but after my being on the pill for 20 years my testosterone levels are now normal (the pill is known to bind free testosterone) and I STILL have hirsutism.

My current doctor just recently learned of my problem (since I had the hair removed permanently when I was a teenager .. I will explain below) and sent me for a test to ensure that my pituitary gland is normal. In some rare cases, a growth on the pituitary gland can cause hirsutism. My cortisol levels were normal though and I would imagine that since I have had this for so long, a growth would have shown up earlier. MOST of the time, however, hirsutism is caused either by a controllable condition such as PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) or simply by the fact that our hair is dark and we are hairy (which our society says is a deviation).

NOW, if you have ensured that the hairgrowth is not due to some health condition and you want to get rid of it, try what I did ... ELECTROLYSIS. When I was in high school I went for about a year for electrolysis treatments twice a week. I actually had so much facial hair that the clinic took photos to use for a text book (in exchange for a reduction in the price of the treatments). I had the treatments when I was 15 years old and I am now 42 years old. The hair has NEVER grown back and I actually forgot about it (except when I have to shave my legs ... OOWEE!).

Laser does not always work and I have known many people who have had it done on their underarms and in other areas and they have had to keep going back and the hair still grew back. I also don't like the idea of doing this treatment on the face. Shaving is not a good idea and is an eternal chore. Bleaching the hair simply gives you a blonde mustache instead of a dark one and plucking is time consuming and has the same problems as shaving. Electrolysis gets rid of the hair for good. Just make sure that you go to a reputable electrolysis clinic.

I hope I have helped you ladies and take care of yourselves.

Estria