Hypertrichose

the hypertrichose is the symptom of a hormonal disordered state which appears, at the man or the woman, by a pilosity invading on part of the body or its totality. The term is resulting from the Greek hyper : with excess, and thrix, trikhos : hairs.

Synonyms: polytrichie , polytrichose , trichauxis .

Not to confuse with the Hirsutisme which is the appearance of a normal pilosity of the male type at the woman.

This disease was studied in medicine under the name of Acromegaloide hypertrichose syndrome which connects other clinical signs present which affect the facies of the person reached whose general table is a face with the coarse features abnormally hairy. As of the birth the hypertrichose is moderate with severe, and is raised gradually during the first 2 decades. The thickening of the hands and the features appears in childhood. The viability of the subject is normal. Various hormonal treatments can attenuate its demonstration.

The listed cases are very few (about a score) but very spectacular, the person having the face entirely covered with hairs like an animal. It is supposed that these appearances, in the past, perhaps gave rise to the myth of the Loup-garou.

Thick hair and hypertrichose

When an excessive pilosity appears in other places, it is seldom due to an excess of Androgène S. For example, he is not unusual for an young girl to be taken along at one (E) Endocrinologue by his mother because she is anxious presence of hairs on her arms and her legs.

The majority of the hypertrichoses are genetic, but a small number of unusual systemic disorders can increase pilosity. Some drugs (for example the Diazoxide, the Diphenylhydantoin or the Minoxidil) and of the Toxic S as the mercury can induce a generalized growth of pilosity.

Hypertrichoses can also be caused by untreated infections or Malnutrition. For this reason, it is a common symptom of the Anorexia nervosa.

The severe hypertrichoses are rare, certainly due to unknown genetic defects and can give like result in excess a kind of animal peeling on the face and the body. These disgracieuses people were exhibées in spectacles of Foire or Cirque with names such as the “man-dog” or the “woman with barb”.

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