Management of unwanted hair growth can be a challenging and time consuming task, particularly for women living with PCOS. Not only are you subject to embarrassing stubble and ingrown hairs but this process could leave your body covered in uncomfortable stubble.
Women living with PCOS now have permanent hair removal solutions available that work, such as electrolysis and laser hair removal.
Electrolysis
Women living with PCOS often suffer from various symptoms, including excess hair growth in places it shouldn’t normally grow (hirsutism). Unfortunately, this hormonal condition can be challenging to treat; while quick fixes like shaving or waxing may provide temporary solutions, electrolysis often provides permanent solutions.
Procedure involves having a trained electrologist insert tiny needles into all of the hair follicles on your body in order to destroy them with electrical current, often minimal pain and temporary redness post treatment; unfortunately this option can be costly and take multiple sessions before becoming effective.
Before selecting an electrologist to perform electrolysis, it’s essential that you perform proper research. Some practitioners advertise “electrolysis,” yet could actually be using another technique such as photoepilators or electronic tweezers instead of needles as needed for true electrolysis. Be sure to visit an experienced practitioner using needles exclusively and examine their office environment – this will indicate their professional expertise.
An experienced electrologist will use FDA-approved equipment for electrolysis. They understand the different forms of hair growth on your body and how best to treat each of them, whether due to heredity issues or high levels of androgens.
Electrolysis is considered a permanent solution for hair removal because it disrupts each individual hair follicle’s growth center, stopping new hair from growing. Unfortunately, however, electrolysis alone won’t solve hormonal imbalances that cause hirsutism; additional therapies, like anti-androgen medication may be required as a complementary strategy.
Waxing
Attributed to PCOS are various disabling side effects, none more frustrating than excess facial and body hair that comes with it. Shaving, waxing, and plucking may provide temporary solutions; however many women with PCOS seek more permanent ones that eliminate the need for constant shaving or plucking.
Electrolysis can be an excellent permanent solution to unwanted hair removal. Unlike shaving, which only removes surface hairs from follicles, electrolysis actually destroys them from within, meaning regrowth after treatment is often much slower and less noticeable than it would be with shaving alone. Electrolysis treatments may be especially useful for women living with PCOS looking for long-term solutions for their unwanted hair growth issues.
Laser treatment offers another effective method for permanently eliminating unwanted hair: laser treatments can be an excellent solution for women struggling to control their hormones who experience excess hair growth due to abnormally high levels of androgen (the male hormone), making this form of hair removal suitable for reducing its presence.
Laser treatment works to effectively prevent hair regrowth after it has been eliminated, making it an attractive solution for women looking for long-term relief from unwanted hair growth. Unfortunately, as internal hormone imbalances may prevent laser treatments from providing effective results; multiple sessions will likely be necessary in order to attain positive outcomes.
Soft waxing is another effective means of permanently removing unwanted hair, using warm wax spread over arms or legs to be pulled off when cool. While this method may not be the most comfortable form of hair removal, many find it relatively pain-free as well as quick to complete at home.
Laser Hair Removal
Women living with PCOS often struggle with excessive hair growth. While shaving and waxing may provide temporary solutions, laser hair removal offers long-term relief by targeting melanin in hair follicles to destroy them and stop future growth. Treatments also don’t hurt like electrolysis does and they can treat larger body sections at once – both advantages that make laser removal the superior choice for treating this condition.
Though laser hair removal is safe for anyone looking to reduce unwanted hair growth, its advantages become especially beneficial to those living with PCOS. Excessive hair growth is one of the major side effects of PCOS and it can be difficult to manage using traditional techniques alone. Laser hair removal eliminates shaving, waxing, and plucking altogether – significantly cutting down on time spent removing hair!
Like with any treatment, laser hair removal requires you to avoid direct sun exposure prior to each session. If you take sun medications such as sunscreen or St John’s Wort capsules, be sure to stop at least several weeks before scheduling your laser session as this could affect its success. Additionally, skin irritants or photosensitizing products (e.g. St John’s Wort capsules) could impede how effectively laser treatment works if used prior to appointments.
Laser hair removal can be used on many areas of your face, neck, nipple area, legs, chest and arms – even your face! Although more costly than treating smaller areas individually. Unlike waxing however, laser can directly target individual hairs from their root source and remove them without pain or inconvenience in just 30 minutes!
Laser hair removal can be an effective and safe treatment option, however it’s essential that before proceeding it’s important to consult your doctor first. If you are trying to conceive, laser hair removal could cause irreparable harm to the reproductive organs if used incorrectly; additionally women with PCOS often require multiple sessions in order to thin and minimize hair growth with laser treatments.
Chemical Peels
Women living with PCOS often develop thick and coarse hair on their arms, legs and torso – terminal hairs which differ from vellus hairs that cover most other parts of the body – on account of high testosterone levels in their bodies triggering hair-producing follicles to produce these terminal locks.
Shaving is an effective method for removing unwanted hair, but can leave the skin irritated and cause ingrown hairs, taking much longer than other methods and not being suitable for all parts of the body, including back and underarms.
Depilatory creams like Nair or Veet are widely used by people to remove unwanted hair. These creams use chemical formulas that dissolve hair quickly and are easy to use; they’re even labeled non-messy! Unfortunately, however, their chemicals can sometimes irritate skin.
Alpha hydroxy acid, or AHA peels are among the most widely-used chemical peels and can help to reduce wrinkles, improve blotchiness and smooth out skin texture. While an AHA peel may provide effective treatment, deeper peels are stronger; patients with darker skin have an increased risk of abnormal pigmentation as a result of peels.
Deep chemical peels require more serious procedures that often involve numbing medications or sedatives for comfort, and multiple sessions to achieve the desired results. A doctor will use a brush, cotton ball or sponge to apply the solution onto the skin which will sting for several minutes and be rinsed off and neutralized afterwards; redness should begin subsiding in 14 days; it might take months until all redness has subsided completely. When healing starts occurring it’s important not to scratch or scrub at it as this could become infected; planning ahead is recommended so you have ample time for recovery from this procedure!
