Hairy body or face - Diagnosing hirsutism

If you think you have hirsutism, see your GP as soon as possible. Hirsutism is a common problem that is easily treated, and it's important that your GP looks for any underlying cause.

Your GP will look for excessive amounts of hair on your body, including on your:

face
chest
thighs (upper legs)
buttocks

As some people have more hair than others anyway, there is no clear definition of when excess hair becomes hirsutism. However, if your excess hair is thick and dark instead of fine and fair, then you may have hirsutism.

Assessing the severity

Your GP may assess the severity of your hirsutism by grading the growth of your hair in different areas of your body. This will be done by:

looking at the hair growth in nine different body areas – including the upper lip, chin, chest and upper arms
grading this hair growth from zero to four – with zero meaning no hair and four meaning heavy hair growth

This will then give you a score from zero to a maximum of 36. Generally, a score above 15 is considered moderate to severe hirsutism.

Finding the cause

As well as diagnosing hirsutism and assessing its severity, your GP will try to find out if there is an underlying cause (see causes of hirsutism). They may ask if:

you have other symptoms, such as irregular periods or weight gain – these can be signs of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
your hirsutism has come on suddenly – this may a sign of a tumour (growth)
you are taking any medication that may cause hirsutism

Further tests

If your symptoms suggest another condition is causing your hirsutism, you may need further tests, such as:

a blood test to check your levels of testosterone (the male sex hormone)
an ultrasound scan (when high-frequency sound waves are used to create an image of your womb) to look for cysts (fluid-filled sacs) if your GP thinks you may have PCOS
testing a urine sample for the stress hormone cortisol if your GP thinks you may have Cushing’s syndrome (a rare hormonal disorder)

If you do not have any other symptoms and your hirsutism is mild, then further tests are not usually necessary.