Some females have excess hair growth on the face and/or body. The medical term for this is hirsutism (HER-seh-tiz-em). It may be caused by a hormonal condition or it may just be how someone's hair grows. Treatment depends on the cause but can lessen the amount of hair or get rid of it completely.

• If your child is prescribed any medicines for hormonal conditions, help them take it as directed. These medicines often reduce excess hair growth.
• If your child wants to remove excess hair, talk to your health care provider about options such as:
  • shaving, using creams that dissolve the hair, or waxing and plucking to temporarily remove hair
  • laser hair removal and electrolysis to remove hair permanently
  • medicated cream or medicine taken by mouth to slow how fast hair grows

Your child:

• has skin redness or irritation from hair removal
• is very upset about the excess hair

What causes excess hair growth? Most often, it happens from:

• an imbalance of hormones 
• medicines

Some people just naturally have more hair than others. 

Does excess hair growth need to be treated? If it's caused by an imbalance of hormones, treatment for the imbalance will often lessen the amount of hair. But if your child just naturally has more hair than other people and isn't bothered by it, there is no medical reason to treat it.