Hi, I’m 16 years old (I am a girl), and I have excessive hair. I have long thin brown tinted hair all over my stomach, my butt and my legs. My facial is not terrible but my chin hair is still long thin hair that makes it quite visible. My arms are very hairy, but my hair is not very course (exept my lower legs), but just very long and dark. My periods are not regular (they tend to have about a month and a half in between each). I am not overwheght. Can somebody please tell me if they think this could the begginning of hirsuitism! Thank you! 
Hirsuitism just means “excessive hair”. It’s not a name of a condition - it’s a side effect that can be caused by many different ones.
You should find out who the best endocrinologist is in your area and have your mom take you in for a consultation and tests to see if there are hormonal inbalance issues, thyroid issues, etc.
And if you have been using them, discontinue any contact with artificial sweeteners.
For more information read Sweet Deception by Joseph Mercola and The Diet Cure by Julia Ross.
Thank you, I have already seen a doctor previous to my first post and she just said that I am more hairy than the average girl… I am an ape, hairier than ALL the guys at my school. But I will try to find an endocrinologist.
A regular doctor doesn’t specialize in hair and hormones and knows little about it. If you want to know for sure, you need to see an endocrinologist who specializes in PCOS and is not going to dismiss it without proper tests.
A regular doctor can do a work up by getting tests specific to thyroid function, corticosteroid levels, etc. There are not enough endocrinologists out there to care of people who want to know why they are hairy. Go to the yellow pages, online or in a phonebook. Compare how many endocrinologists there are to gastroenterologists, cardiologists. I’m certain that you will find very few endocrinologists. Endocrinologists have three years of internal medicine training after medical school and then three-fours of sub-specialty training in endocrinology after their residency. The number of endocrinologists are low compared to the procedure based specialties like gastroenterology and cardiology because the money flows to the specialties that do procedures and endocrinology is not one of them. It’s a wonder we have any endocrinologists.
It would be better to see a family physician who has an interest in women’s health. There are many women family physicians that fill this need. If a male physician takes interest in hirsutism, then he can manage ordering tests and prescribing as well as a female physician. In fact, many family physicians know exactly what to do and they know how to manage stable diabetics as well as any endocrinologist. More importantly, they know when to refer difficult cases to the endocrinologist. Endocrinologists are thankfully “spared” from the manageable stuff that a family doc can do because they need their precious time to concentrate on the more volatile and brittle diabetic cases, as well as other very strange or rare endocrine disorders.
The number of endocrinologists is small. The first action should be to consult a family physician or nurse practitioner that specializes in women health issues or you may have to wait a long time to get a basic workup from a sub-specialist like an endocrinologist.
TeamJacob, maybe you need to call around and find another family doctor who specializes in women’s health. They are out there and they know how to order the same tests and prescribe the same medicines an endocrinologist would. Some family practitioner’s specialize in geriatrics, some in sports medicine, some are interested in addictive medicine and the list goes on… Find the one that qualifies for your concerns. Yes, it could just be genetic just like your doctor told you. You will hear that a lot when national health insurance takes over, so get a work up while you still can if that is your goal.
Dee