A Rear Disease Called Werewolf Syndrome:
Werewolf syndrome is the popular name given to Hypertrichosis. This is a condition in which people suffers from excessive hair growth on any part of their bodies. Irrespective of gender, any person can be a victim of such this rare disease. It can happen over a period of time or at the time of birth.
Different Characters of Hypertrichosis:
Acquired hypertrichosis: This variant of the disease usually develops in the later part of one’s life. Terminal hair (dark, long, thick) & Vellus (light colored fine & short hair that is hardly noticeable) hair are two types of hair is usually noticed in this variant. It can appear in small patches or in all areas of the human body which are natural hair growing areas.
Nevoid hypertrichosis: Sometime you can notice the presence of an additional patch of hair in the person’s body.
Congenital hypertrichosisterminalis: Building up of unusual hair starts at the time of birth & keeps on growing lifelong. This kind of hair is thick as well as long & coats the person’s body including with face.
Hirsutism: This type of hair growth happens mostly among women. Some women start having hair growth especially in areas where they usually don’t have any kind of hair growth like chest, face, back etc.
Congenital hypertrichosislanuginosa: At the time of birth fine soft hair is usually noticed on the baby’s body, however, as time goes instead of dying out , the fine hair continues to grow in several different parts of the body too.
Causes:
It can appear because of certain type of medicine use, like phenytoin or minoxidil or cyclosporine.
The following are some scenarios:
- You can see this problem appearing almost after 3 months from the time you begin to consume phenytion or in some cases even longer. Usually women have more prone to developing hypertrichosis than men.
- When you are having cyclosporine on a regular basis you can have this ailment (in your face, limb or even trunk) appearing almost 6 months after you star having this medicine.
- In case of oral minoxidil consumption, this excessive hair growth can happen just within a few weeks after a person starts taking this medicine. In some cases it has been see that the symptoms automatically disappears within 12 months of you stopping the use of this medicine.
- Exposure to chemicals like hexachlorobenzene can also cause hypertrichosis.
- You can develop extreme hair growth in the trunk or even in your limbs because of malnutrition or anorexia.
- Head injury can also lead to such problem.
- Children suffering from celiac ailment can contract such disease.
- Women who are dieting, if they remove carbohydrates from their meal for quite a long period of time, have a chance of developing this disorder.
- This could be a genetic problem, transmitted to the next generation.
- A few people suffering from AIDS might experience localized hypertrichosis.
- Some cancer can trigger this disease. It has been found that are the areas suffering from cancer gets operated on and removed from the body , normal hair growth is witnessed and the symptoms seem to go away.
Some treatment guidelines are as follows:
- Shaving on a daily basis could be a good option for averting this problem. It will help you to avoid dealing with piling up hair growth.
- Hair removal cream or depilatories can also help you to avert such problem. However, you need to be very sure that you don’t have any open wound on your body, otherwise it could trigger allergies.
- Another very effective way to deal with such ailment is electrolysis.
- People suffering from werewolf syndrome can also try laser hair removal. This can destroy the root of such unwanted hair growth & provide you a peaceful mind.
Though there is no such valid & effective cure for werewolf syndrome or hypertrichosis, but these above options can help you to get some relief.
Featured Image by: CDR ‘plores NYC&ROC
