What is the connection between increased hair growth and acne?
Dear Dr. Redmond: I have noticed that many of my clients with hirsutism also have acne. Several have told me that they expected it to go away after their teens but that it did not. What is the connection between increased hair growth and acne? INCREASES IN HAIR GROWTH and female acne do, unfortunately, go together because the hormonal cause of the two conditions is the same. In both cases, androgens (testosterone and related hormones) act to trigger the condition. The initial event in acne is increased oil production. The oil is produced in the sebaceous glands which, as we know, are closely associated with the hair follicles. The two are part of the same skin structure, called the pilosebaceous unit. While the sebaceous gland responds to testosterone by making more oil, the hair root responds by growing hair that is longer, thicker and darker. At puberty, androgen levels normally rise in girls; this is what causes the appearance of underarm and pubic hair as well as the increase in fa
