CLAIRE Menzies looks every inch the confident professionalenjoying the sun on her lunch break. From her peep-toe patent wedgesto the dark sunglasses in her hair, she is sassy andstraightforward. You sense what you see is what you get.
Yet Claire has spent 20 years hiding a physical condition whichremains so stigmatised it is rarely discussed.
If left untreated, dark hair grows on her face and torso, herwaist and the top of her thighs. It used to be so dense she had toshave her face every morning with a disposable razor. For years, herhusband Derek helped her cope with the fear of the black strandscurling at her neckline by shaving her back.
Now she has received laser treatment on the NHS - and spenthundreds of pounds of her own money at a private clinic in Glasgow -and found a way to manage the problem, but it has been a longjourney.
Claire says: "Way back when I did not have the medical professiontaking it seriously, maybe because they did not understand it, and Iwas told there was no treatment available, I had no hope. I thoughtI was a freak."
In fact, 5 to 15% of women suffer excessive hairiness orhirsutism and Transform Cosmetic Surgery clinics in Glasgow andEdinburgh see, on average, 200 women a month requesting laser hairremoval.
One of the most common causes, and the condition which afflictsClaire, is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) - a disordercharacterised by cysts on the ovaries and a range of other symptomsincluding hirsutism, infertility and weight issues.
Perhaps, surprisingly, clinicians report that it is the extrabody and facial hair which causes most distress, an observationconfirmed by a survey by PCOS charity Verity. Excess hair came outas the worst symptom with 30% of the votes in a poll on theirwebsite.
Claire first encountered signs of PCOS when at the age of 24 shecame off the pill after six months because she found it did notagree with her.
At first she experienced weight-gain and bloating, then herperiods became erratic. Her GP put it down to the hormonal changescaused by the contraception. Then she began noticing small hairs onher shoulder in the shower.
One day as she was drying herself, Derek swept his hand to brushwhat he thought was a stray hair from her back only to find it wasattached. Suddenly embarrassed, Claire says the reality of the extragrowth hit home.
She says: "I went back to the doctor and was sent backwards andforwards to hospitals and eventually ended up with an oldgynaecologist who had a student with him. I had to stand there in mybra and pants and he was pointing out areas of hair to the youngerdoctor. No matter what way you look at it, it was humiliating. Hetold me I had a hormone imbalance and I was going to have to livewith it. He said it was one of those unfortunate things that comeswith being a woman."
By now she was approaching her thirties and hair was appearing onher face as well; on her top lip and from the nape of her neck toher ears. Within six months, she says, she began to suffer from a"five o'clock shadow".
"I was having to get up in the morning and shave and tweak andthen by 5pm at night I could see them coming back again," she says."I lost a lot of my confidence with that because everyone could seeit."
Claire turned to the internet and found all her symptoms pointedto PCOS. Fired-up by her husband, she returned to her GP where shewas seen by a locum who immediately ordered blood tests.
A diagnostic scan followed. When the sonographer pointed-outClaire's ovaries on the image, she joked: "I do have them then." Healso drew her attention to the little black dots indicating cysts -both ovaries were full of them.
In many ways it was bad news. PCOS cannot be cured and is aleading cause of fertility issues. But Claire and Derek were notambitious to start a family. It was the hair growth which affectedher every day.
Her diagnosis triggered a referral to the Greater Glasgow clinicwhich provided laser treatment for skin problems including burns,scars and excess hair.
A panel was due to consider whether Claire's case was severeenough to warrant NHS treatment, but she says as soon as theconsultant saw the medical photos taken of her face she wasreferred.
"I felt fantastic," she says. "I said to him, 'You are the onlyone to given me a bit of hope.'"
The laser treatment had to be repeated regularly and the changewas gradual, but after nine months she could see the difference.
Claire no longer feels the need to talk with her hand over hermouth to hide creeping growth and her skin is not sore fromscraping.
She says: "I still get the odd one. That is nothing when I do nothave to shave every day."
Treatment for Claire's torso and legs, however, was not availableon the NHS. When she began to talk about spreading depilatory creamaround her shoulder blades, ahead of a holiday, her husband offeredto shave her back.
"I could never have let anyone else do it, not even my sister,"says Claire. "It probably did bring Derek and I closer togetherbecause he understood where the lack of confidence was coming from.He said, 'This is not like you.' I would tell him it was botheringme and he would say, 'It is only me that sees it.'"
Nevertheless she ritually checked for visible hairs every timeshe left the house.
On a night out with her sister she was standing at a bar when astrange man tried to pluck a hair from her shoulders - one herhusband must have missed. Claire was so embarrassed she leftimmediately. She says: "It was humiliating. I thought I was dealingwith it, but then you suddenly realise how one comment that youwould normally ignore, sets you back years. A big part of myconfidence went again."
Finally she saved up the money to fund private treatment for herback.
Under a special offer she says she paid around pound(s)800 for acourse of eight treatments using what is called near infra-redtechnology - a system which uses pulses of energy to gradually heatthe follicles in the skin's sub dermal layer to prevent re-growth.
Like a dieter trying to avoid the scales, she tried not to takepeeks in the mirror until the programme was complete - but says whenshe saw the before and after photographs side-by-side she feltfantastic.
"Now I can put on a wee strappy top if I want to," she says. "Istill check what is showing, but I think that is years of habit."
The hairs still grow on her stomach, chest and thighs - but shesays it would cost thousands to treat each area and there would bethe on-going cost of "top-ups".
She believes the NHS should consider funding more treatment forhirsutism where it is caused by illness.
Rachel Hawkes, chair of Verity, agrees. She says: "It gets seenas a cosmetic problem and not a medical condition and therefore doesnot get the attention it deserves. It plays havoc with a woman'spersonal life and self esteem and it has a big impact on heremotional wellbeing, but the NHS very rarely funds treatment."
Claire says knowing she can get rid of excess hair has been life-changing. "The things I have had to worry about for 20 years, I nolonger have to worry about," she says.
