[Hirsutism--diagnosis and therapy].

Hypertrichosis and virilisation are to be differed from hirsutism, the increased hairiness of male type in the female. The subdivision is done according to the causes into physiologic, symptomatic, iatrogenic and idiopathic forms of hirsutism and for practice adequate to localisation into degrees of severity. In pathogenesis age, race, heredity, endocrine factors of the skin, in particular the reactivity of the hair follicles, testosteron and prestages of androgen, the sexual steroid-binding globulin as well as the oestrogen-androgen-balance play a role. Despite all progress in the analytics of hormones by the catheterism of the ovarial veins and the adrenocortical veins the inhibition and stimulation tests with determination of the steroids in the plasma or in the urine are entitled to diagnostics. The treatment is performed according to the cause operatively, medicamentously or cosmetically. The best results were gained with the antiandrogens (cyproterone acetate) and the gestagen chlormadinon acetate.