PCOS and your skin
The diagnosis is made by your GP or gynaecologist. The skin concerns that come with it we treat: unwanted hair growth, acne along the jawline, thinning scalp hair and dark patches in skin folds.
Below it says per concern what is possible, what to count on and where your doctor is up.
PCOS is diagnosed by your GP or gynaecologist, with blood tests and an ultrasound.
Once you know what is going on, we work on the skin concerns that come with it. Those two often run alongside each other: your doctor looks at the cause, we look at what you see.
The room where the conversation starts
Who does what.
Your doctor works on the cause, we work on what you see. The third column says why the two need each other.
Not here
The GP or gynaecologist
Establishing whether there is PCOS, carrying out tests, and treating what is going on underneath. Everything to do with hormones, medication and blood values.
Here
Us
The skin concerns you see: unwanted hair growth, acne along the jawline, thinning scalp hair and dark patches in skin folds. Each with its own approach.
Not here
Together
As long as the cause plays a part, the skin keeps moving with it. So a treatment works best alongside your doctor's care, and you keep the result up with maintenance.
What we can do with PCOS
With every concern both sides stand equally emphatically. One without the other is a sales pitch.
Unwanted hair growth in a male pattern
Coarser, darker hair in places you are not used to it: chin, jawline, neck, chest or stomach. Often the consequence people withdraw over most.
How laser hair removal worksWhat we do
Laser hair removal works here, and usually well. The hair is coarse and dark and that is exactly what the laser acts on.
What to count on
We do not take away the signal that makes that hair grow. New hairs will keep appearing, so this becomes maintenance and not an end point. Count on more sessions than the standard programme and on coming back periodically afterwards.
Acne along the jawline and on the neck
Deeper, tender spots that stay longer than ordinary acne, often low on the face and on the neck. They come and go in periods.
More about acneWhat we do
Settling the skin, tackling inflamed spots and limiting scarring. That is real work and it makes a noticeable difference.
What to count on
Taking away the cause. As long as it is there, your skin moves with it. A programme that works in March can flare again in September, and that is not a failed programme but a condition that is still there.
Thinning scalp hair
Less volume, a widening parting, more hair in the brush. Unlike the hair growth elsewhere this is a loss and not a surplus.
What we do
Looking along and recording what we see, so that months later there is something to compare.
What to count on
Treating it. Hair loss with PCOS is a hormonal matter and we have no treatment for it. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something.
Dark, velvety patches in skin folds
On the neck, underarms or groin: a darker discolouration that feels soft and does not wash away. It is not dirt and not a pigment spot.
What we do
We do nothing about this, and that is deliberate.
What to count on
Removing it. This discolouration is a signal and not a cosmetic problem, and treating over it only makes the signal invisible.
Sometimes we send you away instead.
A skin clinic sometimes sees something before a diagnosis exists. The right step then is not to offer a programme but to say where you should be.
What we do doAcne along the jawline and on the neck
With painful lumps under the skin or scars that stay, a doctor should take a look. There is medication for that and we cannot give it.
Thinning scalp hair
Yes. This belongs with your GP and if needed with a dermatologist, and not with a skin clinic.
Dark, velvety patches in skin folds
Yes, and this is the most important of the four. This discolouration is tied to how your body handles insulin. Have it checked by your GP, even if it does not otherwise bother you.
Then we find out
first what is there.
A programme starts with a measurement, and with PCOS that is extra useful: your skin moves with periods, so without a starting point you cannot see later whether something worked or whether it was simply a quiet month.
If something is already running with your GP or gynaecologist, say so at the intake. Not because we do anything with it, but because it matters for what we advise and when.