Re: lower leg hair & PCOS
From: aga (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Wed, 10 Oct 2001 03:39:36 -0500 (CDT)
When I asked my doctor what to do with my lower legs hair problem and my
arms hair problem she told me the same that you read in the article: "It
has nothing to do with PCOS. It is just a cosmetic problem". I was
upset but I didn't have much choice and I was shaving my legs as always.
However she prescribed me birth control pills and Androcur for my other
symptoms of PCOS and I must tell you that after a few months of taking
this pills I noticed that there is less hair on my legs and arms and
they are thinner and lighter and they grow slower. Earlier, I had to
shave every day and now every three, four days is enough.
So, I agree - It must have something to do with androgen excess.
Take care,
--
aga
At Tue, 9 Oct 2001, jodi wrote:
>
>Yesterday I found myself at a local university's medical library
>researching stuff for a paper I am writing... and while I was there I
>figured I'd waste some time by reading anything I could on PCOS. :-)
>(You know how everything always seems more interesting than your current
>topic, whenever you're doing research, even if you thought the topic was
>interesting before you started? heh...)
>
>Anyway... found some articles in some older issues of Ob&Gyn North
>America (something like that...) on hirsuitism... and I know I have
>seen this addressed other places as well but... Has anyone else come
>across literature saying that lower leg hair and lower arm hair have
>nothing to do with androgen excess? That if you are really hairy there,
>it is familial, genetic, whatever? Anyone else finding themself thinking
>there is no way in heck that statement is accurate???
>
>My lower legs are REALLY hairy. The hair is really thick, and coarse,
>and has that darn 2-3 hairs per follicle tendency. There is no way I am
>going to be convinced that this does not have SOMETHING to do with my
>gross hormonal imbalances. My parents are not hairy people. My father,
>in fact, has about 1/3 of the leg hair I do. Last week, my dad had
>surgery on his arm, and while he was in the OR holding area, I couldn't
>help but stare at his legs as he lay there in his little hospital johnny
>and think, I wish I had my father's legs. You won't hear many girls say
>that. :-P My mother, while she claims she had to shave twice a day in
>the summer when she was younger, never had hair of the coarseness or
>multitude that I do. But I see all this literature that says lower leg
>hair excess is not related to hormonal imbalance. I say hogwash... and
>wonder if anyone else feels the same?
>
>- jodi
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