Cream May Stop Facial Hair Growth

By PHIL GALEWITZ AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - They pluck, they bleach, they tweeze. They use hot wax, electric current and lasers. Some even shave daily. And still the hair comes back.

About one in six American women has enough facial hair that they remove it at least once a week.

Now, Gillette Co (NYSE:G - news)., the world's biggest manufacturer of razors, and pharmaceutical maker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY - news). have developed the first prescription cream that stops the growth of facial hair in women.

The drug could win Food and Drug Administration approval as early as next year.

Vaniqa (pronounced van-ih-KAH) is applied to the face like a moisturizer twice a day. It works by blocking the enzyme that makes hair grow. It must be used regularly or hair growth will resume. Studies show it helps most women and has no major side effects.

Vaniqa appears to work in men as well - but the makers are trying to prove themselves with women first.

Facial hair in women has several causes, including an excess of male hormones. Genetics can also play a role. For instance, women of Mediterranean or Hispanic descent tend to have more facial hair.

The condition, known medically as hirsutism, can damage a woman's self-esteem. ``It's very destructive, psychologically,'' said Dr. Ricardo Azziz, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

Azziz said current treatments are only moderately successful, and Vaniqa may be preferable because creams cause fewer side effects.

No one has to convince Ingrid Reyes, 29, a chemist from New York City. Ms. Reyes said she has had sideburns and dark hair above her lip since she was a teen-ager.

``I've been on a date and suddenly he notices it and says, `You have a lot of hair.' He doesn't mean any harm, but it makes you feel uncomfortable,'' she said.

Ms. Reyes tried waxing to remove the hair. But that dried out her skin. She tried plucking it. But the hair only grew back thicker.

Lately she has been receiving electrolysis, which gets rid of hair permanently by delivering electrical current through a needle placed into the hair follicle. But multiple treatments are required and - at $75 each - they are stretching her budget.

Other methods also have shortcomings. Shaving causes stubble and skin may become irritated. Depilatories, or creams that remove hair, can irritate the skin.

Some doctors have prescribed birth control pills, but many women don't want to take them because they can cause weight gain and other side effects. Doctors recently started using lasers to kill hair follicles but that is also expensive, and can cause scarring.

``It will be nice to give women something they do not have to take by mouth, and it's certainly less painful than electrolysis,'' said Dr. Ken Washenik, a dermatologist at New York University who helped study the drug. The only side effect was a rash on some women, he said.

The companies have not set a price yet for Vaniqa. Like other ``lifestyle'' drugs such as those that fight baldness, the cream probably won't be covered by insurance.