The prevalence of upper lip hair in black and white girls during puberty: A new standard

Lucky, Anne W.; Biro, Frank M.; Daniels, Stephen R.; Cedars, Marcelle I.; Khoury, Philip R.; Morrison, John A.

doi:10.1067/mpd.2001.109790

« Previous Next »The Journal of Pediatrics
Volume 138, Issue 1 , Pages 134-136, January 2001

The prevalence of upper lip hair in black and white girls during puberty: A new standard☆☆☆

Divisions of Pediatric Dermatology, Adolescent Medicine, and Cardiology, The Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio; and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio

Received 7 September 1999; received in revised form 17 December 1999, 17 February 2000, 19 May 2000 and 23 June 2000; accepted 27 June 2000.

Abstract

In order to develop standards for upper lip hair in adolescent girls, 4693 observations in 856 black and white subjects were made over 9 years. Up to 2 years after menarche, 90% of girls had no upper lip hair. More than 2 years after menarche, 48.8% of black girls and 9.0% of white girls had small amounts of upper lip hair. This may be more significant in adolescent girls than in older women. (J Pediatr 2001;138:134-6)

Abbreviations: DHEAS , Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate