Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Health Video

Video Transcript

DR. LISA GIBBONS: Hi. My name is Lisa Gibbons and I'm an obstetrician/gynecologist with Cascadia Women's Clinic in Vancouver, Washington. I'd like to talk with you a little bit today about polycystic ovarian syndrome. This is one of the more common hormonal disorders affect females and symptoms that we typically see with this are menstrual disorders, meaning no periods or very infrequent periods, infertility associated with that, and male-pattern hair growth called hirsutism, also increased acne and male-pattern baldness, obesity or difficulty loosing weight, and darkening of the skin around the neck. Ladies are diagnosed by the menstrual irregularity, also ovarian cysts on ultrasound or elevated testosterone levels or the clinical symptoms of that elevated testosterone being the acne and male-pattern hair growth or loss. And treatment ultimately depends on what the ladies are coming in complaining of. If they're trying to become pregnant, we can use medications to help with ovulation. If, however, they're coming in because of irregular periods or difficulty of loosing weight, then we approach that by replacing the hormone irregularity. And one of the most important things to know about this disorder though is the chronic effect it has long-term. We found over time that ladies with polycystic ovarian syndrome have effect of high blood pressure, heart disease, and increased risk of stroke, also increase risk of diabetes and thyroid disorders and uterine cancers because of the irregular cycles and increased estrogen due to all these long-term consequences of this disorder. We strongly encourage long-tem annual followup of many of these diseases and overall general health by diet, exercise, and potential treatment for any of these disorders that would be diagnosed in the future. So I would encourage ladies with these symptoms to be established with an obstetrician/gynecologist or other primary care provider for evaluation of this.