Hairy ladies - is there anything the doctor can do?

[growingabeard]

I've always been quite hairy but it's been getting a lot worse over the last few months.

I keep thinking it might be hormone related - I stopped breastfeeding on demand my DD (2 years old) about 6 months ago. Weirdly my level of hairiness seemed to go down while I was pregnant, but it's worse now than it ever has been before - I've always had the odd ten or twelve chin hairs but now I'm starting to get small patches of hair growing on my cheeks . I've spent more than half my life faffing about trying to get rid of hair, which is difficult for me as my skin is so sensitive, so whatever I try always ends up in a nasty rash/loads of ingrowing hairs.

Has anyone else been to see their doctor about hairiness, and how helpful have they been? I'm just starting to wonder if I actually have PCOS or something, which I might be able to get treatment for (though as far as I know I don't have any other PCOS symptoms...). I'm starting to think about having laser treatment, and am hoping (probably in vain!) that I could be referred for it. What do you reckon?

Worth going to the GP for a chat surely in case PCOS is implicated?

I have found a big reduction in body hair being on Yasmin (pill). It also changed the quality of the hair on my head from being thick and slightly curly/wiry to being sleek and straight (and thinner). Gone off the pill and hairiness has increased again! Just saying cos it makes sense to me that pregnancy would corrolate with being less hairy, I think hormones have a lot to do with it.

Yasmin might be worth a go in the first instance though once breastfeeding stops being an issue...

Thank you so much for your reply - I imagined something like the pill might help what with adjusting hormone levels. I've never been on the pill before so have no experience of that, so it's good to know it can work! I'm just so sick of hair removal, and want to find out what the issue really is so I can deal with that, and hopefully fix the problem at its root (quite literally!)

Should have said, Yasmin rather than any other brand of pill, for some reason that one in particular has that effect (reducing hair growth) on some people.

Dianette (pill) claims in its booklet to help to reduce some hairgrowth too. I would definitely speak to GP though for the reasons Quod states - it is often a symptom of Polycystic Ovaries.