ABSTRACT
Management of Unwanted Facial Hair in Women 490
Eflornithine, a Selective Inhibitor of ODC and Hair Growth 491
Eflornithine Delivery to Anagen Hair Follicle 492
Preclinical and Pharmacokinetic Studies with Eflornithine Formulations 494
Percutaneous ADME Studies 494
Clinical Safety of Topical Eflornithine 495
Eflornithine Clinical Studies for Facial Hair Growth Reduction 496
Phase I Clinical Study 496
Phase II and Phase III Clinical Studies (Placebo Controlled) 497
Objective Measures of Facial Hair Growth by Videoimaging in
the Phase II and Phase III Studies 500
Phase II Objective Hair Length Reductions 500
Phase II Investigator Perceptions 502
Subject Perception Evaluations 504
Phase III Perception 506
Conclusions 507
References 508
MANAGEMENT OF UNWANTED FACIAL HAIR IN WOMEN
Facial hair is a very disturbing and even psychologically debilitating condition in
hirsute women and these women are among the most grateful patients when a
treatment is found to lessen the severity of their condition (1). A study from
20 years ago suggested that the level of facial hair, which is regarded as socially
unacceptable by the public and distressing to those with the condition, was below
that which many physicians would classify as clinical hirsutism (2). Today, the
management of unwanted facial hair is not limited to the severe hirsute
women, and unwanted facial hair is recognized as a problem confronting a
large segment of women. Studies conducted by the NFO Research Group in
1992 and 1999 demonstrated that unwanted facial hair is a chronic problem for
22 million women in the USA, and of the 13,000 women surveyed, 20% removed facial hair at least weekly and 4% of women found it necessary to
remove hair every single day.
