PCOS Archives

What is PCOS hair?

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) affects 12-21% of women of reproductive age and the figures are even higher for indigenous women. It’s not known what causes PCOS and there is no cure for it, but its symptoms can be alleviated and here, PEACH CLINICS can help.

Both men and women are born with approximately the same number of hair follicles but, at puberty, girls will continue to grow vellus hair (soft light peach fuzz) on their bodies while, in boys, these hairs are triggered by testosterone to turn thick and dark and accelerate their growth as what are called terminal hair.

What is PCOS induced hair?

An excess of androgen in the female body can lead to a hormone imbalance. With PCOS, excess androgen in a woman triggers the same hair growth process as in teenage boys and once these hairs turn terminal they cannot return to their vellus state.

You are not alone

When clients come into Peach Clinics, they sometimes say, “You’ll never guess where I have hair growing”. Well, there’s almost nowhere that would surprise us, but one of the least talked about areas where hair grows is around the nipple, actually around the areola, to be precise.

Not many women will share the fact that they have nipple hair and it’s rarely something you read about in the mainstream media.

It’s a natural thing

But hairs, random or otherwise, around the areola or on the breast itself, are more common than you would realise. Just like other skin surfaces on the body, the areola contains hair follicles, so hair on a nipple or breast is completely natural.