DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Please write something about the gallbladder and gallstones. What does the gallbladder do? What causes stones? What changes if the gallbladder is removed? Can a diet change rid the body of stones? – C.C.

ANSWER: The gallbladder is a small pouch located under the liver that stores liver-made bile (gall). Bile aids in the digestion of fats. When people eat a fatty meal, their gallbladder contracts to squirt bile into the digestive tract.

Most gallstones consist of cholesterol along with a touch of calcium, protein, fatty acid and bile pigment. Cholesterol doesn’t dissolve in liquid. Substances called phospholipids keep it dissolved. When the concentration of cholesterol in bile exceeds the concentration of phospholipids, cholesterol begins to settle out as crystals that grow into a stone or stones. Obesity, being a woman, advancing age, genes, pregnancy, a high-calorie and cholesterol-rich diet and rapid weight loss contribute to gallstone formation.

Not a whole lot changes when the gallbladder is removed. Without a gallbladder, bile drips into the digestive tract more or less continuously, and fats are still digested.

Diet cannot get rid of gallstones. A low-calorie, low-cholesterol diet can help prevent them.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: I am a postmenopausal woman and have begun to develop hair growth all over my body, including my face. I have to shave my face like a man. I find this disgusting, upsetting and depressing. Electrolysis is not the answer because there is too much hair to remove. How can I stop this ugly hair growth? – S.E.

ANSWER: Women grow hair in places that men do when the balance of female-to-male hormones is upset. That happens at menopause. It also happens to younger women, and for them, polycystic ovary disease is often responsible for the imbalance. In a few instances, in women of all ages, serious troubles like ovary or adrenal gland tumors are responsible.

Shaving, waxing and depilatories (hair-removing chemicals) are solutions for some women. Electrolysis and laser treatments are other answers. Have you considered either for just the facial hair?

Vaniqa cream can prevent hair growth. It doesn’t remove hair that has already sprouted, but it can slow down new hair growth.

In younger women, birth control pills are a remedy.

Spironolactone, which was originally designed as a water pill, neutralizes the hair-growing influence of male hormones and is often prescribed for hirsutism, the name of this condition.

Another drug, finasteride – whose primary purpose is control of prostate gland enlargement – can also blunt the effect of unwanted hair growth in women who are not pregnant or not going to become pregnant.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE: Even though I have no symptoms of glaucoma, my eye doctor insists that I have it and has given me eyedrops to use. Can the drops damage my eyes if they are not needed? The drops blur my vision. Should I stop them? – D.W.

ANSWER: Your doctor is doing you a huge favor. Treatment of glaucoma must begin well before any symptoms appear – like loss of side vision. Once symptoms appear, no treatment restores vision. Glaucoma is one of the world’s leading causes of blindness.

Detection of glaucoma is made by measuring the fluid pressure in the eye and by looking at the optic nerve in the back of the eye. A rise in pressure and changes in the optic nerve indicate that glaucoma is brewing.

Eyedrops can often reduce fluid pressure by enabling it to drain from the eye normally.

If the drops are blurring your vision, then go back to the doctor. He or she can change the prescription. There are many such eyedrops. If the drops fail, oral medicine is available. If that fails, a laser can open up the clogged drainage channel.

Such drops won’t hurt normal eyes.

Dr. Donohue regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but he will incorporate them in his column whenever possible. Readers may write him or request an order form of available health newsletters at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Readers may also order health newsletters from www.rbmamall.com.