Connect with us

Wellness

Keke Palmer Says These 2 Symptoms Helped Her Realize She Had PCOS—See Her Instagram Photo

Published

on

Two stubborn symptoms led Keke Palmer to her eventual diagnosis of PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), the actor shared on Monday’s episode of The Tamron Hall Show. The Hustlers star, 28, revealed last December that she’d been diagnosed with the condition, as SELF previously reported. Her adult acne, which she shared in photos on her Instagram last December, made her wonder if she might have an underlying condition. “I started to zero-in on the fact that, you know, for me to have dealt with acne past puberty in the way that I did, there had to be something deeper going on. And that’s when I came upon PCOS,” she told Hall.

Learning about the condition also answered questions she had about other symptoms she was managing. “I kind of discovered that that’s what I was dealing with, and it answered a lot of the questions to, not only why I had acne, but why I grow hair on my face or under my chin,” she told Hall. “I kind of have a lowkey beard going on that I have to shave every couple of days.”

PCOS is both a hormonal and metabolic disorder, as SELF has previously reported. Getting a PCOS diagnosis can be a frustrating process, partly because the diagnostic criteria can vary, but also because navigating the medical system can require a ton of persistence. As Palmer noted in her December Instagram post about PCOS, she had to fight to get an accurate diagnosis: “Unfortunately doctors are people and if you don’t ‘look the part’ they may not think that’s your problem,” she wrote. “They may not even suggest it if you ‘look healthy’ whatever that means!”

Generally, to make a PCOS diagnosis, your doctor will be looking for some combination of irregular periods or no periods at all, evidence that your ovaries have excess follicles on them (found through an ultrasound), and higher-than-usual levels of androgens, which are hormones like testosterone. High androgen levels can present as acne, excess face and body hair, and thinning scalp hair. Weight gain is also associated with PCOS, although how they influence each other is not clearly understood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Source: Self

Advertisement

Follow us on Google News to get the latest Updates

Trending