Visually scoring hirsutism

Bulent O. Yildiz, Sheila Bolour, Keslie Woods, April Moore, Ricardo Azziz

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

256 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Hirsutismis the presence of excess body or facial terminal (coarse) hair growth in females in a male-like pattern, affects 5-15% of women, and is an important sign of underlying androgen excess. Different methods are available for the assessment of hair growth in women. Methods: We conducted a literature search and analyzed the published studies that reported methods for the assessment of hair growth. We review the basic physiology of hair growth, the development ofmethods for visually quantifying hair growth, the comparison of thesemethods with objective measurements of hair growth, how hirsutism may be defined using a visual scoring method, the influence of race and ethnicity on hirsutism, and the impact of hirsutism in diagnosing androgen excess and polycystic ovary syndrome. Results: Objective methods for the assessment of hair growth including photographic evaluations andmicroscopic measurements are available but these techniques have limitations for clinical use, including a significant degree of complexity and a high cost. Alternatively, methods for visually scoring or quantifying the amount of terminal body and facial hair growth have been in use since the early 1920s; these methods are semi-quantitative at best and subject to significant inter-observer variability. The most common visual method of scoring the extent of body and facial terminal hair growth in use today is based on a modification of the method originally described by Ferriman and Gallwey in 1961 (i.e. the mFG method). Conclusion: Overall, the mFG scoring method is a useful visual instrument for assessing excess terminal hair growth, and the presence of hirsutism, in women.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberdmp024
Pages (from-to)51-64
Number of pages14
JournalHuman Reproduction Update
Volume16
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 30 2009
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Androgen excess
  • Hair growth
  • Hirsutism
  • Polycystic ovary syndrome

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Reproductive Medicine
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Visually scoring hirsutism'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this