Excess facial and body hair (hirsutism)
Androgens are the driver here. In women with PCOS, elevated androgens, testosterone chief among them, stimulate hair follicles in places that typically respond to male-pattern hormonal signalling: the chin, upper lip, chest, and lower abdomen. A 2023 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that hirsutism affects roughly 70 to 80% of women with hyperandrogenism linked to PCOS. The hair growth is coarse, not the fine vellus hair most women have on their arms. It is one of the most consistent physical markers of androgen excess, and it has nothing to do with the menstrual cycle.
