Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome

Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) is a genetic defect which causes the undifferentiated genitals of the developing baby to fail to respond correctly to androgens (male sex hormones), and therefore not develop fully male characteristics.

At birth, the infant may have ambiguous genitalia, leading to confusion of the baby’s sex. As the child grows, he or she may have other male and female physical characteristics, including breast development in males at puberty, decreased body hair and beard, but normal pubic and armpit hair, and sexual dysfunction and infertility.

This syndrome may also be known as Gilbert-Dreyfus syndrome, incomplete testicular feminization, Lubs syndrome, Reifenstein syndrome, Rosewater syndrome, and type I familial incomplete male pseudohermaphroditism.


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