Race, rather than skin pigmentation, predicts facial hair growth in women.
BACKGROUND
The Ferriman-Gallwey hirsutism score is the currently accepted standard for assessing excess hair growth that may indicate hyperandrogenicity. The score was originally based on 60 Caucasian women, and recent studies suggest that it may need modification to be used in other populations.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate ethnic, racial, and pigmentary variations in hair growth of the upper lip in diverse multinational populations.


RESULTS
Variations in hair growth of the upper lip were significantly related to self-reported ethnicity and race. In a logistic regression with racial groups and skin lightness, all racial groupings (African American, Hispanic, Asian Indian, and East Asian) were predictive of hair growth (all p<0.0001), but skin lightness was not (all p>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The observed differences in constitutive hair growth illustrate the need to develop an ethnically stratified visual scoring method to more accurately characterize the severity of excess hair growth.
University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Emilia
E
Javorsky
Dermatology Associates of Concord, Concord, Massachusetts.
Alexis C
AC
Perkins
Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Greg
G
Hillebrand
Procter & Gamble, Kobe, Japan.
Kukizo
K
Miyamoto
Department of Dermatology, Harvard University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
Alexa
A
Boer Kimball