AEPCOS guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Hirsutism: what is new?

Hirsutism is defined as excessive terminal hair in women, that appears in a male pattern. This is a very common clinical finding among young women, leading in many cases to psychosocial complaints and impaired quality of life. Excessive androgen action is the common underlying mechanism of this phenomenon. However, causes of hirsutism may be different, ranging from idiopathic conditions to severe organic diseases, whereas diagnostic tools are often expensive and biased by several limitations. Thus, the evaluation and diagnosis of these women may be a challenge to physicians. As regards treatment of this condition, it is widely accepted that management of clinically significant hirsutism is generally based upon a dual approach: a pharmacological therapy to reduce androgen secretion and/or androgen action, and removal of terminal hair already present. Whereas there are suggested strategies for managing hirsutism, we must be aware that we still need longer and larger studies to establish the ideal therapy for this condition.