BACKGROUND Current methods of testosterone replacement therapy are limited to fixed-dosage patches and depot injections. Neither of these methods provides ideal therapy because of the inflexibility of dosing and other nuisance problems associated with the patches and nonphysiologic hormone levels when depot injections are used. Testosterone gels offer the potential for convenience and ease of a...

Hirsutism by definition describes the quality of body hair, implying coarseness, but common usage has extended the meaning to denote an excess of hair-locally or generalised. Body hair is of two types: fine, non-pigmented vellus hair-for example, facial "down"-and coarser pigmented terminal hair as in the scalp and axillas. The visual impression of hairiness is produced by the coarser type. Hir...

Subcutaneous infection chambers in rabbits were infected with a strain of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from a patient with toxic shock syndrome. Estrogens (mestranol and 17-beta-estradiol) protected male rabbits and prolonged survival. Neither androgens (testosterone and dihydrotestosterone) nor progesterone affected the susceptibility of intact or ovarihysterectomized female rabbits.

Dihydrotestosterone(DHT) has played the pathogenic role in androgenetic alopecia. Patients with genetic deficiency of 5 alpha-reductase type II enzyme, which converts testosterone to DHT, do not have androgenic alopecia. The conversion of testosterone to DHT at hair follicles leads to miniaturization. In scalp biopsy, the tissue DHT level is significantly increased in balded area than non-balde...