i have excess facial hair as a result of PCOS, have never heard the losing weight will make the facial hair disappear though.

In general we get the excess hair because of high levels of testosterone.

I never heard about loosing weight and facial hair going away..... I have recently lost 60 pounds and still have hair issue.....LOL!!!! Excessive hair is a result of imbalanced hormones.......

I have the same problem. I've tried electrolysis and that did nothing for me. It was just expensive, painful and left some scars... I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 13 (10 years ago). Unfortunately the only way I've found to cope with it is shave every day. :-/

p.s. I've lost 100 pounds and it did nothing for my excess body hair...

Agreed, losing weight makes no difference.

The only thing I know of that had any affect on anyone's facial hair was birth control pills. A specific kind. I don't really know which one though, because I haven't taken them in several years.

Doctors all tell you losing weight will fix everything. That's their way of getting you to fix it instead of them actually figuring something out. If it was so easy, they wouldn't have to tell us to lose weight! I lost 70 lbs a few years ago and the only thing it did was alleviate a knee problem I had, which had more to do with the fact I was exercising more and less to do with the weight itself.
It didn't fix anything else. I was TTC for years and the PCOS was a huge pain in the butt, but we overcame that too with meds and other "stuff" and after all that work, I'm pregnant again.. haha. God has a good sense of humor, I'll have 2 babies under 18 months old by February ;). The lost weight, didn't do it. So do what you can to make yourself healthier, but don't let them pull the "only losing weight" will work card, it's just not right.

losing weight can help with some of the other issues, but not the hair. every time i lose 5 or 10 pounds is when i get pregnant, so there is something to be said for weight loss, but it wont make your hair magically go away, nothing will. the ones that are already there will always be there, but you can (supposedly) prevent new ones from growing by using medications, etc. i had laser done a few years ago, and it didnt help at all. i just have to pluck pluck pluck and pray noone notices.

I don't understand why doctors tell us all to lose weight like it's the easiest thing to do! And even if we do lose weight it doesn't help the syndrome itself, only some of the symptoms. Ugh I'll get off my soap box now lol but as far as the facial hair goes I've lost 25 lbs (10% of my starting weight) and haven't seen any difference in my facial hair. Waxing and Tweezing are the only methods that work for me.

Thank you all for your input.. One doctor in the past mentioned it as well for my new doctor.

I had done laser treatments and it did not help.. I shave daily and it depressing me. I am not sure what the endo doctor will do..and am debating on not going.

Again, Thanks for your input..

Liliann

I had a dr actually tell me that too and i too found it didn't work and was hard with the pcos. i recently had another dr tell me not to bother to do electrolysis till after menapause.

Lilian, I also have a huge issue with facial hair, I found that coming to terms with it and starting a consistent hair removal regiment is whats working for me. I was and from what I've heard with waxing the hair comes in finer and with time will not come in at all...fingers crossed... hang in there!

Hi Liliann, understand TOTALLY what you're going through. I had doctors for about 10 years now tell me it was weight related, blah blah blah. I hate that they seem to hang every illness on that. I understand being overweight is not *good* for me, however not everything ties back to weight! :/

I went to see an Endo about a week ago for the first time. She said the same thing - however, she did proscribe Spironolactone - some people get great results taking it - slowing and stopping the facial hair growth. Might be worth looking in to (although there are some drawbacks - as with anything).

Has anyone else here ever taken that? She wanted me to go on BCP + the Sprio - but being 35, overweight and a smoker..yeah, no..lol

All this ladies are right but its not hopeless. Testosterone is what causes the hair and yes every freaking doctor says oh lose weight its not that hard blah blah blah. BUT for the hair you need to just lower the testosterone in your body. There are some things to try to lower it without help but I really recommend Aldactone aka Sprilacatone. Its job it so lower the testosterone levels in the body.
By the way you may not even have really high testosterone levels once the blood test comes back because you have PCOS you may just be really sensitive to it. Also I suggest picking up a few books on PCOS. Sadly a lot of doctors are not very up to date with PCOS. (like mine right now) Honestly if you read a book on it you will most likely know more about the disorder then your own doctor and you can help them in setting up your treatment plan.

Once again I am rambling. I hope this helps Liliann.

I have facial hair and it seems to get worse every year. So what I did was that I went on you tube and learned how to thread eyebrows. Its actually quite simple... I started to thread my whole face, and yes it gets frustrating but its worth it :)

My testosterone levels were actually in the normal range; however, I had bad hair growth. I have been doing laser hair removal and had great success with that.

The Dr said there are also andergons (SP?) that impact hair growth and recommended a prescription of spironolactone. I did not want to take another prescription so didn't try that.

Hello, I too have PCOS and am on Zovia which is supposed to be the best birth control for this condition. I used to shave and the hair just kept getting thicker so I stopped. I tried waxing but the hair was so thick it wouldn't come out. I did go through laser hair removal and I can tell you if the excessive hair you have is fine, the laser will not pick it up. I actually stopped going after the hair thinned out because it wasn't worth the pain and the laser stopped picking up the hair.

Since I stopped the laser hair removal I have been getting waxed. My hair lady has to basically wax my entire face. Everything from my chin to my sideburns, upper lip and even the sides of my face. I can tell you from experience that waxing does work. I am still getting waxed but not as often. The hair does eventually thin out and will stop growing altogether. It has stopped growing in already in some parts of my face.

I know it's frustrating but don't cancel the appointment. See what the doctor has to say. They told me that losing weight would regulate my periods. I had lap band surgery and lost a lot of weight and it still did not regulate them completely. If stress doesn't interfere I can narrow it down to the week that it will come, but not the day. I hope that helps.