Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 16, 2023; 11(2): 292-298
Published online Jan 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i2.292
Idiopathic hirsutism: Is it really idiopathic or is it misnomer?
Kursad Unluhizarci, Aysa Hacioglu, Serpil Taheri, Zuleyha Karaca, Fahrettin Kelestimur
Kursad Unluhizarci, Aysa Hacioglu, Zuleyha Karaca, Department of Endocrinology, Erciyes University Medical School, Kayseri 38039, Turkey
Serpil Taheri, Department of Medical Biology, Erciyes University Medical School, Kayseri 38039, Turkey
Fahrettin Kelestimur, Department of Endocrinology, Yeditepe University Medical School, Istanbul 34755, Turkey
Author contributions: Unluhizarci K performed the majority of the writing; Hacioglu A contributed to drafting the manuscript; Karaca Z contributed to the writing and made critical suggestions; Taheri S performed the experimental studies in our instution; Kelestimur F approved the final version of the manuscript to be published; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Kursad Unluhizarci, MD, Professor, Department of Endocrinology, Erciyes University Medical School, Kosk Mahallesi, Turhan Feyzioglu Caddesi, No. 42 Melikgazi, Kayseri 38039, Turkey. kursad@erciyes.edu.tr
Received: October 22, 2022
Peer-review started: October 22, 2022
First decision: November 30, 2022
Revised: December 12, 2022
Accepted: December 27, 2022
Article in press: December 27, 2022
Published online: January 16, 2023
Processing time: 81 Days and 12.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Idiopathic hirsutism (IH) is defined as hirsutism associated with normal ovulatory function, normal ovarian morphology and normal serum androgen levels, however, its pathogenesis is not clear. We have previously shown that, patients with IH have relatively higher serum androgen levels and demonstrated higher expression of steroid sulphatase and 17-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase mRNA both in the subumbilical region and arm skin, which contributes to local androgen metabolism. Upon the demonstration of relative hyperandrogenemia and possible increase in local androgen synthesis in patients with IH, we think that idiopathic hirsutism is not idiopathic and it may be named as “normoandrogenic hirsutism”.