Effect on facial hair

middle of may · 03-14-2003, 02:29 AM

Hey everyone. I have just been prescribed Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo by my OB and was wondering specifically how effective being on the pill alone has been for those with facial hair problems.
Also, how soon do you start to see results and to what degree, and which brand has been best in that department?
I'm sure this has come up frequently, but I poked around and didn't see too much specific information...
I appreciate anything you can tell me.
Thank you!!

middle of may · 03-14-2003, 02:30 AM

One more question, out of curiosity.
I took the pill for a short while when I was a teenager, and only after I stopped taking it did I seem to develop PCOS. I was wondering if anyone else has a similiar experience.

jannie_b · 03-14-2003, 10:53 AM

Not all pills will help with androgen excess (facial hair, acne). Some may make it worse. I'm not sure about Ortho Tri Cylcen but i know that others on the board have said that it's not a great pill for women with PCOS.

In terms on the onset of PCOS, a lot of women experience what you did (PCOS symptoms appearing after being on the pill). THe problem is (1) the Pill masks the symptoms, so you may have been on the road to PCOS when you went on the pill...as soon as you went off it, you got all the symptoms; and (2) a lot of women get their first symptoms in their late teens/early twenties, and it's also when they may go on the pill. So it's difficult to say whether the pill caused the PCOS. The two things happened at the same time, but they may not be causally related. In some cases, PCOS "causes" the Pill...young women with acne decide to take the pill to help with it, and they don't realise that it was the first sign of PCOS.

I hope this is helpful. You may want to check out the stickies at the top of this board on choosing a pill.

Good luck!

Janet