Clinical Diagnosis of Hirsutism in Thai Women
Sopon Cheewadhanaraks MD*, Krantarat Peeyananjarassri MD*, Chainarong Choksuchat MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University
Objective : To determine the cutoff score for identifying hirsute Thai women, by using modified Ferriman-
Gallwey-Lorenzo (mF-G-L) method.
Materials and Methods : Hirsutism was defined as an amount of terminal hair in the androgen-sensitive skin
areas that the women themselves would consider obviously abnormal, and their mF-G-L score was above
97.5 percentile of general population. The subjects were consecutive unselected premenopausal women who
came to our hospital for their yearly Papanicolaou smear check up, without any complaint. Acne and oily
skin were also assessed.
Results : Five hundred and thirty-one women underwent a physical exam. The women who had the total hair-
growth score of 0, 1 and 2 by mF-G-L method accounted for 97.8% of all the subjects. All of the 11 subjects
with a total score of 3 or more considered themselves to have excessive growth of hair. None of these 11
women had acne.
Conclusion : The authors purposed that the cutoff score to diagnose Thai hersutism may be 3 or more by mF-
G-L method.
Keywords : Diagnosis, Hirsutism, Thai
