“It Is Always on My Mind”: Women's Experiences of Their Bodies When Living With Hirsutism

Ekbäck, Maria Palmetun; Wijma, Klaas; Benzein, Eva

doi:10.1080/07399330902785133

Cited by 54 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The area less affected was work and school. These results further strengthen what has been found in a previous qualitative article by Ekbäck et al [8], where women were working, but did not participate in activities with work mates outside their work, in case they risked revealing their hairiness because of the embarrassment and guilt they felt over their situation. This is also in line with the higher levels of ‘social fears' that Sonino et al [2] reported among women with hirsutism compared to women without hirsutism.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…The areas most affected are the face and the lower abdomen [6]. Hair in the face is considered most troublesome, can preoccupy the women's minds [7,8] and can be experienced as a betrayal of womanhood [9]. In addition the social norm of femininity today includes to be totally free of body hair [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition the social norm of femininity today includes to be totally free of body hair [10,11]. A qualitative study has shown that body experience for women with hirsutism seems to be very negatively and thoroughly affected by excessive hair growth and can also be a life sorrow [8]. We have only found a few studies addressing the influence of hirsutism on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) [2,7,12,13,14], and none focusing on the impact of the level of hair growth on different aspects of HRQoL, anxiety and depression.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health-Related Quality of Life, Depression and Anxiety Correlate with the Degree of Hirsutism

Ekbäck

Lindberg²,

Benzein³

et al. 2013

Dermatology

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Background: Hirsutism has a negative impact on women's quality of life. The relation between quality of life, anxiety, depression and the level of hairiness has not been described. Aims: To investigate the correlations between the levels of hairiness, quality of life, anxiety and depression. Methods: 200 patients from Malmö, Örebro and Uppsala, who had been in contact with the clinics for problems with excessive hair growth, were invited to answer a self-administered questionnaire including sociodemographic questions, EQ-5D index score, Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Ferriman-Gallwey scale (F-G); of these, 127 women participated in the study. Results: The mean values were: EQ-5D index 0.73 (SD = 0.27), EQ visual analogue scale 61.0 (SD = 22.6), HADS-anxiety 9.5 ± 5.3 and HADS-depression 6.5 ± 4.6. The mean DLQI was 11.8 ± 8.4, indicating a very large effect on patients' lives. All were significantly correlated with the amount of hairiness. Conclusions: Higher levels of hair growth were significantly correlated with a lower level of quality of life and symptoms of both anxiety and depression.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Health-Related Quality of Life, Depression and Anxiety Correlate with the Degree of Hirsutism

Ekbäck

Lindberg²,

Benzein³

et al. 2013

Dermatology

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“…Today, the social norm of femininity, i.e., being hairless [7,8] and thin [9] are ideals far away from living with hirsutism. This discrepancy makes the women feel abnormal and ashamed of themselves [10]. In a previous study, we also found that women with hirsutism often felt disappointed and not listened to by health care personnel [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“We feel rejected”: experiences of women with hirsutism consulting physicians

Ekbäck¹,

Engfeldt²,

Benzein³

2011

Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology

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“…As shown in a qualitative study, hirsute women feel "slaves of their own body" and describe this condition as a "prison" [ 16 ]. Moreover, looking in the mirror very often could represent an obsessive-compulsive behavior [ 17 ].…”

Section: Hirsutismmentioning

confidence: 98%

Psychological Implications of PCOS

Ando

D’Alessandro

2015

Metabolic Aspects of PCOS

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Nowadays, quality of life (QoL) is widely considered an important parameter for evaluating the quality and outcome of health care, particularly for patients suffering from chronic disorders: polycystic ovary syndrome is one of these.Clinical symptoms of PCOS could compromise women's quality of life and have a strong negative effect on mood, psychological well-being, and sexual satisfaction.Physically visible PCOS symptoms are more likely to provoke distress in younger women than older women [ 1 ].The "American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists" suggests that, in view of the high prevalence rate of depression and persistence of new cases in PCOS population, an initial evaluation of all PCOS women should also include assessment of mental health disorders.The PRIME-MD PMQ (Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Patient Health Questionnaire) [ 2 ] is suitable to evaluate eating disorders [ 3 ]; furthermore, its interpretation and scoring are very simple. PCOS Symptoms and Psychological Correlation Obesity and Body ImageDissatisfaction with body image is one of the major causes for psychological disorders even in a healthy population; most women affected by PCOS are overweight, and having a high BMI exposes them to several appearance-related challenges. Some studies showed that PCOS women have lower quality of life and overweight was the largest contributor to poor QoL [ 4 ]. In fact, health-related quality of life questionnaires in women with PCOS have shown that excess weight and difficulties with losing weight are the foremost concerns [ 5 ].Moreover, by using PCOSQ (Health-Related Quality of Life Questionnaire for Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome), it was demonstrated that higher levels

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“It Is Always on My Mind”: Women's Experiences of Their Bodies When Living With Hirsutism

Cited by 54 publications

References 30 publications

Health-Related Quality of Life, Depression and Anxiety Correlate with the Degree of Hirsutism

Health-Related Quality of Life, Depression and Anxiety Correlate with the Degree of Hirsutism

“We feel rejected”: experiences of women with hirsutism consulting physicians

Psychological Implications of PCOS

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