HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Ok, I'm freaking out!!!

A few months ago, I started getting long, dark hairs on my lower chin. No big deal, I just tweezed them out. I went to tweeze them out again the other day, and instead of there being 3-5 of them, there were about 20!!!

WHAT is going on?????? My mom told me I'd have to deal with this when I get older...but I'm 27!!!

Has this happened to anyone else? How do I take care of this?

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Lots of people deal with this!

Are you on any medications? BCP, hormones, pre-natals, etc?

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Posted by Shorty

Lots of people deal with this!

Are you on any medications? BCP, hormones, pre-natals, etc?

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Hey , I have a horrible problem with this as well.

All I can say is WAX, WAX, WAX. I even buy the at home waxing kit because it has become too much $$$ to go and get it done as often as I would like. I usually get it done once at the beginning of the month and then touch it up myself once a week or so at home. The Sally Hansen Brazialian wax is the best. It gets every hair. Even the ones you don't see. It also hurts the least and you do NOT need strips. It hardens and you just pull it off without the strips.

I am not sure what causes it, but if you find a better remedy please share.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Any chance you might have PCOS? Dark hairs on the face and other areas are a common symptom - along with weight gain/difficulty loosing weight, lack of period/long cycles, dark patches on your skin (I think), infertility and a lot of other weird stuff. Not everyone with PCOS has all of those though, my only symptom is the infertility issues.

The fact that you said it just started recently and you went off BCP five months ago made me think of it. When you are on BCP your hormones are being artificially regulated...so its very possible that symptoms would only appear after you went off. Talk to your doc if you think you might have it - you could save yourself a lot of time if TTC which I think you are ?

Message edited 7/13/2007 8:24:59 AM.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Posted by Carolyn

Any chance you might have PCOS? Dark hairs on the face and other areas are a common symptom - along with weight gain/difficulty loosing weight, lack of period/long cycles, dark patches on your skin (I think), infertility and a lot of other weird stuff. Not everyone with PCOS has all of those though, my only symptom is the infertility issues.

The fact that you said it just started recently and you went off BCP five months ago made me think of it. When you are on BCP your hormones are being artificially regulated...so its very possible that symptoms would only appear after you went off. Talk to your doc if you think you might have it - you could save yourself a lot of time if TTC which I think you are ?

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Posted by lilqtny

Hey , I have a horrible problem with this as well.

All I can say is WAX, WAX, WAX. I even buy the at home waxing kit because it has become too much $$$ to go and get it done as often as I would like. I usually get it done once at the beginning of the month and then touch it up myself once a week or so at home. The Sally Hansen Brazialian wax is the best. It gets every hair. Even the ones you don't see. It also hurts the least and you do NOT need strips. It hardens and you just pull it off without the strips.

I am not sure what causes it, but if you find a better remedy please share.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Posted by MrsRivera

Posted by Carolyn

Any chance you might have PCOS? Dark hairs on the face and other areas are a common symptom - along with weight gain/difficulty loosing weight, lack of period/long cycles, dark patches on your skin (I think), infertility and a lot of other weird stuff. Not everyone with PCOS has all of those though, my only symptom is the infertility issues.

The fact that you said it just started recently and you went off BCP five months ago made me think of it. When you are on BCP your hormones are being artificially regulated...so its very possible that symptoms would only appear after you went off. Talk to your doc if you think you might have it - you could save yourself a lot of time if TTC which I think you are ?

WOW. Scary, because:
1) I have a LOT of trouble losing weight (I also have an underactive thyroid)
2) My cycles have been averaging around 45 days
3) Now these weird hairs!

I will definitely talk to my doctor. How do you get tested for it?

Thanks so much for your help!

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Posted by Carolyn

Posted by MrsRivera

Posted by Carolyn

Any chance you might have PCOS? Dark hairs on the face and other areas are a common symptom - along with weight gain/difficulty loosing weight, lack of period/long cycles, dark patches on your skin (I think), infertility and a lot of other weird stuff. Not everyone with PCOS has all of those though, my only symptom is the infertility issues.

The fact that you said it just started recently and you went off BCP five months ago made me think of it. When you are on BCP your hormones are being artificially regulated...so its very possible that symptoms would only appear after you went off. Talk to your doc if you think you might have it - you could save yourself a lot of time if TTC which I think you are ?

WOW. Scary, because:
1) I have a LOT of trouble losing weight (I also have an underactive thyroid)
2) My cycles have been averaging around 45 days
3) Now these weird hairs!

I will definitely talk to my doctor. How do you get tested for it?

Thanks so much for your help!

There's no test to "diagnose" it, but my regular ob/gyn did bloodwork to test my hormone levels and also sent me for a two hour glucose test...based on those and also your history/symptoms you can get diagnosed. Mine was also recently confirmed with a sonogram which showed cysts all over my ovaries.

And by the way, I only got diagnosed after I switched from BCP to the patch and everything went haywire because my hormone levels were whacked out. If I had stayed on BCP till we TTC I would have wasted a lot of time not getting PG and not knowing anything was wrong!

If you do a google search you can find a complete list of common symptoms and see if you have any.

Of course I hope you don't have it but if you do have it there's lots of medications and other things you can do to manage it really easily. And as far as infertility its one of the easist kinds to treat. Good luck!

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Yes definitely talk to your doc about it and keep me posted! You can FM me if you want

Good luck!!!

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

I have been having the same exact problem. I plucked one a couple of years ago and now all of a sudden I have lots of them. I finally got fed up and went to a few laser hair removal places. One place wanted to charge me $200 a session for JUST my chin.. I checked out another place that will do it for $65 a session with a discount after your 4th session. I live in NJ, so this probably doesn't help..but, it's another option for you..

My sister swears by it. She had to do about four or five sessions and loved the results. No dark hairs there anymore..She goes to someone on LI. When I talk to her, I can find out her info. if you want it. I think she charged around $75 a session.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

Whenever the chin is affected (or effected), whether it is hair or pimples, it is hormonal. It is usually indicative of too much testosterone.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

try electrolysis (sp?)
waxing and tweezing just makes the hairs grow in thicker.

electrolysis kills them from the folicle

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

I agree with the other ladies re: possible PCOS - that's the first thing I thought of when I read your post. I have PCOS and had the same problems. I would highly highly recommend electrolysis - as evnme just posted - tweezing and waxing just make it grow in faster and worse - I could give you the long scientific explanation for that if you wanted Electrolysis can be expensive, is uncomfortable, and can take a long time to complete because hair grows in different cycles. However, it truly is the only thing that is perm and it I felt it was certainly worth it! FM if you have any questions!

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

I have one and it keeps coming back.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

This started in my late twenties also. I tweeze but have thought of laser hair removal and the prescription cream Vaniqua which your dermatologist can prescribe.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

I was also going to suggest being tested for PCOS.
In the meantime I would keep tweezing. Waxing will remove all the hairs in the area (baby hairs too) and IMO appear thicker when they grow back. Just tweeze the dark ones.

Re: HELP! (A little embarrassing to post)

I also think it sounds like PCOS. You have FM!