- It's never good when already hairy situation turns hairier…
Photo by Minh Ng?c on Unsplash
No one likes hair in their food, right? Well what if it was growing out of your gums? A patient in Italy was unfortunate enough to have to go through this.
Eyelash Hair
Doctors are sharing the patients story to raise awareness for her illness. The lady, who will remain anonymous, visited the doctors for her unique condition when she was 19. At that time she was diagnosed with a rare illness called Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a condition caused by imbalance in levels of sex hormones in the body. PCOS can cause excessive hair growth, including excess facial and body hair.
In This Case, Gum Hair
The patient was given an oral surgery to remove the hair and given birth control pills to help control her hormone levels. Several months later, no more hairs. However, six year later, when she was 25, the patient returned to the same clinic with hairs in her gums. She told medics that she had stopped taking the pills. Upon examination, doctors saw that she also had excess hair on her chin and neck. They said that the hair inside her mouth was ‘similar to brown eyelashes.’ The cells that line the inside of the mouth and skin cells on the body that sprout hair are different, but may cross over.
How Many Times Now?
They once again did oral surgery to remove the hairs in her mouth, and was told to return soon for a checkup. She didn’t return for a year when she had even more gum hairs. Once again, she had them removed and medically determined that the unusual hair growth was due to PCOS. The doctors noted that anytime she stopped taking birth control, the hair regrew. There are only five cases in the world of this happening.
Another Unidentified Woman
A woman went to a doctor when he was 15- in 2009- with high testosterone levels and cysts on her ovaries. She was also diagnosed with PCOS. For unknown reasons, she stopped taking her meds. Her PCOS came back more severe, and had hair growing out of her gums. After a year, it got worse. It was not disclosed on whether she was treated or recovered.