Robert Graves Lecture 1984_Dr. T. Joseph McKenna
25/04/1984 in Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, 6, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Dr. T. Joseph McKenna, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes Mellitus, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin.
Common Sex Hormone Abnormalities in Women
Introduction: The sex hormone abnormalities in women to be covered in this paper are manifest clinically by hirsutism, or oligomenorrhoea, or a combination of both. The term hirsutism refers to the occurrence in women of coarse, male-type hair in a male distribution; this includes the upper lip, side-burn area, the skin over the jaw, skin covering the inframandibular region, the skin in the periaereolar areas, over the chest wall and the region of the male escutcheon. Hirsutism is frequently accompanied by facial and dorsal chest wall acne, particularly over the shoulders. In this study the term oligomenorrhoea is used to denote the occurrence of 1-6 episodes of menstrual bleeding per year; the term amenorrhoea refers to absence of menses for 1 year. The cosmetic problem is posed by the growth of fine facial hair, frequently an ethnic trait of Mediterranean races, is not the subject of this paper and is distinguished from hirsutism by the quality and distribution of the hair growth. The problem of oligomenorrhoea which may be perceived as a harbinger of serious systemic disease or associated with infertility, can be readily appreciated.
Irish Journal of Medical Science, , 154:131
This being the twenty-fourth Graves Lecture since its beginnings in 1961.