Hormone tests, birth control, and laser

Hair Removal Methods Laser hair removal
#1

I’m beginning the process of researching laser hair removal.

A few start up questions you can hopefully help me with.

I’m hairy female. Legs, stomach, chest, abdomen, butt, etc.

1.I’ve had my hormone levels checked and an ultrasound done to check for PCOS. My hormone levels are normal and I don’t have PCOS. Now I would like to eliminate all possible options that this isn’t caused by some irregularity in my body to make sure that I don’t get the treatment only to have the hair fully grow back. I’ve said this to the doctor and they’ve said, “Well we’ve checked your hormone levels and their normal. You would be a good candidate for hair removal.” Instead of going to their office and asking, “Is there anything else you can check?” and fully relying on them I would like to know if there is a list of tests that I can go in and inquire about and say, “Look I would like you to look at this and this other specific thing to make sure I’m not going to spend my money for nothing.” This way I’m bound to get the doctor to have more tests done and more likely find the true source of my hair growth. I’ve looked online and haven’t really found anything specific besides “get blood tests and have hormone levels checked.” Can you guys offer any help here? I really want to figure out as much as I can whether this is just because of genes or something else.

a.To be specific I’ve had an ultrasound to check for cysts in the ovaries which is negative. The other things I had tested were my testosterone total level , free testosterone, Te Binding Globulin, and DHEA-SO4.

2.I take birth control (Ocella – the generic version of Yasmin). I get no side effects except of course in the hair dept. The hair seems to be growing at a faster rate and also has gotten a bit denser (on my whole arms, the nape on the back of my neck, I have fine hair on my face which is a bit dense but doesn’t really bother me. I plan to leave my face alone. If the BC has triggered this increase (the hair that I had and was fine isn’t turning into terminal coarse hair or anything like that I just think some my dormant hair is no longer dormant) should I be worried that the source is indeed hormonal and getting laser is a waste or can the problem still be due to genes and getting removal can still likely work?

I just finished my third pack of the birth control and I really don’t know what to do. I’m thinking of stopping it. If I continue taking it will the problem be exacerbated or is it likely that by now it has leveled off? Will the density of the hair go back to how it was or stay the same since dormant hair are now active? I mean having more of my hair not dormant can be a good thing seeing how that means more active hairs to be hit by the lasers.

Please any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much.

#2

  1. Many doctors don’t take hair issues that seriously and don’t look for hormonal or elevated testesterone issues that hard. If you want to know for sure, schedule an appt with a good endocrinologist specifically. That said, unless you have strong coarse growth on your face, the rest of the areas are generally normal to have hair and can be simply hereditary or due to your ethnic background.

  2. How old are you? It may be the birth control effect or it can be just your age (i.e. it would grow regardless). This is something you should discuss with an endocrinologist as well

  3. You can get started on treatments regardless of the above. Even if you have an underlying issue that you’re trying to figure out, the current hair will be killed and the new hair won’t develop for a while. And when it does, it won’t be all at once, so you can simply get a touchup once in a while.

Also, keep in mind that laser is only good for areas with dense coarse growth. Areas with fine hair, even if dense, require electrolysis.

#3

sorry for the late response.

  1. I’m 23. I’m pretty sure the birth control was having a slight effect on my hair growth. After a 3-month trial I’ve stopped it, it was breaking me out pretty bad and it was having a slight effect on increasing my hair growth.

2)The reason I was asking is because I was having problem with my doctor referring me to an endocrinologist. I managed to get an appointment. My hormone levels were retested and my thyroid. Everything came back normal.

My original question still stands. I’m gonna discuss the issue with my endocrinologist, but for those who have gone to an endocrinologist what else besides hormone levels do they say could be an underlying problem. I just basically want to hear others experience when they have gone to an endo.

#4

Levels can be technically in the normal range, but elevated (i.e. closer to one end of the spectrum)

#5

i’ve seen my endocrinologist and so far everything seems to be okay and i should have no problem with hair removal, she has to do one more test which can only be done during a certain time frame after my period ends so we’ll see how that turns out.

my insurance is being switched soon so i’m thinking of making an appt with a new endocrinologist just to be double sure about this whole thing and a second opinion can’t hurt.

eventually, i’ll try to post a list of the tests that were done since I haven’t come across anything specific like that on here.