Hypertrichosis, also called a werewolf syndrome, is a condition known by excessive hair growth anywhere in your person’s body.
It can affect both women and men. But it’s extremely rare. The abnormal hair growth will cover the face and body or be in small patches. Hypertrichosis may appear at birth or occur over time.
Types
We have many types of hypertrichosis categorized depending on how and when a person develops the condition.
Congenital hypertrichosis lanuginosa
The fine lanugo hairsdifferent parts
Congenital hypertrichosis terminalis
Other than being born with lanugo or vellus Hair, the baby can have terminal Hair at birth which grows throughout their life. Attacked individuals often have thick, fully pigmented Hair which covers their body, like the face.
Acquired hypertrichosis
Acquired hypertrichosis comes again later in life. It follows a lot of the same patterns of congenital hypertrichosis. Hair can be lanugo, vellus, or terminal Hair, and it may occur in small patches or over the whole body.
Naevoid hypertrichosis
More hair growthskin
Hirsutism
This is a widespread effect for hypertrichosis, hirsutism that affects up to 10 percent of trusted sources of women. Hirsutism is a condition that relates to women that develop coarse terminal hairs in a typical male hair-growth distribution pattern, like on the chin and chest. Women mainly develop hirsutism because of a hormone imbalance.
Symptoms
The primary symptom of hypertrichosis is the presence of Hair in better amounts than is usual for a person’s age, race, and sex. Hair can also occur in unusual areas.
Not all Hair brought by hypertrichosis is the same. Hypertrichosis may create three various types of Hair:
Lanugo
Lanugo hairhypertrichosis
Vellus
Vellus Hairmucous membranes
Terminal
Terminal hairsTerminal Hair
Women having hirsutism will often lead to terminal Hair on the face, back, arms, and chest. The more the hypertrichosis symptoms it may increase or decrease with age.
Treatment
We have no exact cure for hypertrichosis. However, knowing whether it’s congenital or acquired may assist doctors in selecting the best treatment. Treating that medical disorder is first when abnormal hair growth is because of another condition like PCOS or thyroid disease.
When a medication brings hypertrichosis, increasing the dose or stopping the drug may help you resolve the hair growth. It can also be good to give a person medication. To prevent or slow down hair growth. Topical medicines like depilatory creams may also be prescribed. For those with hirsutism, hormonal medications will be effective for you.
People with severe hypertrichosis may get it hard, overwhelming, expensive, and painful to have routinely plucked and shaved abnormal hair growth. Also, for people that do not have abnormal hair growth, these ways are only temporary. They will last a few weeks.
Laser hair removal
This is a longer-lasting option; however, it typically needs more than one session. It can be expensive and may not work appropriately on certain types of Hair. Electrolysis is the FDA- best treatment for permanent hair removal. While the process does remove the Hair permanently, electrology treatments can be painful and expensive.
Those having widespread hypertrichosis may have to use more than one hair removal method and may require to use them severally for treatment to be effective. The Hair on one part of the body may not be removed safely—using some methods. Certain body features will also be too sensitive for some procedures or more likely to be infected.
Since there have been fewer cases of hypertrichosis diagnosed, the study on treatments for severe forms of the condition is limited.
Conclusion
The kind of hypertrichosis is often accompanied by other symptoms and can be linked to an underlying condition.
We may have a genetic component to other forms of hypertrichosis, so anyone having a family history of the condition may need to talk to a doctor.
Controlling the symptoms or treating the resulting cause is the only appropriate and readily available treatment for hypertrichosis.
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