Hey there~ At first I didn't notice anything at all with vellus hair. Over time though, there is a lot less of it. I didn't really care about it--it was blonde. But yeah, it just sort of kept getting shorter, I guess you could say? It doesn't grow as long (it never was that long at all but now it's really shorter).

Spiro works a lot slower on some women than others, but over time it does work. It's cumulative. First, things slow down. Then, the hair pretty much stops growing (though terminal face hair is STUBBORN and really needs electrology). I never had but vellus hair on my body, except for legs etc., but my body is really smooth, with the exception of my legs. The soft fuzzy hair which never was an issue anyway, is gone. Just... gone. That took a couple of years, though.

I'll tell you this. My head hair grows like craziness. As a teen and in my 20's, it took forever to grow. Now it grows like 2 inches per month at *least*. My hair will likely be waist-length by Christmas, and I just had it cut to my shoulders a few months ago. Also hair sprouted in places around my hairline where hair hadn't been before. Funny how it's the complete opposite of my body's hair. I could be like my Amish neighbors, whose ladies have hair down to their feet and dragging the floor like the train of a wedding gown. Ah, but no.

I have read that insulin should be checked frequently because one time things might look just fine, and another, you'll have an insulin spike or drop. All I know is that most gals who have PCOS are on Metformin. Now I *thought* that PCOS had everything to do with insulin. But maybe I'm just a dumb girl.

Birth control isn't totally essential here, but you don't want to get pregnant on Spiro. Some girls don't do well on Yasmin at all, and getting off has not affected hair in a negative way.

My gosh YES Spiro will make you very photosensitive. If you don't see it now, rest assured it will haunt you later. Wear avobenzone sunscreen. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are good sunscreens, but they clog pores like crazy and look white on your face.

my head hair already grows super fast... sucks that spiro might make it grow faster, since it's hard to keep up with haircuts, but that's nothing in comparison if it actually helps my body hair. but it's good to hear that spiro had some effect on your vellus hair, even in the long term, because it means my doctor is WRONG that it can't possibly help hair that is not thick and dark (i don't believe that my excess hair growth is actually vellus, but it's not thick, coarse, and jet black either.) but i was worried for a while that i might actually have hypertrichosis and it might be caused by something else altogether. either way i am going to find a new endocrinologist.

i wish that someone had told me about sun and spiro... i will believe you if you say it's true, but i haven't read it in ANY of the literature about spiro and my doctor never said anything. it seems like a big deal! i never wear sunscreen because i like to get tan in the summer... that makes me sad because i always love so much to get summer color... but i guess it's better to wear sunscreen anyway so you don't get skin cancer. i hope i can remember to put it on. can you get moisturizing lotions that have that type of sunscreen in them? because i put lotion on my face and body every day so that would be a good way to remember to do it.

i noticed something strange today, which i discovered by accident. the hair on my upper back will come off in my fingers with light pulling (very little force. nothing like tweezing.) not all of it of course but more than i would expect. is this a normal aspect of body hair or does it mean the spiro may be doing something to my follicles? i tried it on some "normal" hair (lower arm) and nothing came free. i cant say i have ever noticed this to happen before. it seems unlikely that the spiro would do much this early but i was just wondering.

Here's a copy and paste:

* This medicine may cause your skin to be more sensitive to sunlight than it is normally. Exposure to sunlight, even for brief periods of time, may cause a skin rash, itching, redness or other discoloration of the skin, or a severe sunburn. When you begin taking this medicine:

o Stay out of direct sunlight, especially between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., if possible.

o Wear protective clothing, including a hat. Also, wear sunglasses.

o Apply a sun block product that has a skin protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. Some patients may require a product with a higher SPF number, especially if they have a fair complexion. If you have any questions about this, check with your health care professional.

o Apply a sun block lipstick that has an SPF of at least 15 to protect your lips.

o Do not use a sunlamp or tanning bed or booth.

o If you have a severe reaction from the sun, check with your doctor.


I never wear long sleeves or great big hats in the summer (are you kidding??) but I do wear the avobenzone sunscreen, which is a great moisurizer by the way, and I wear sunglasses. I am very fair skinned so I would say I am probably more prone to skin damage than you are. On the bright side, I look about 15 years younger than I really am because I protect my skin from the sun. A friend of mine exactly my same age looks leathery and old now because of all that tanning. So sunscreen isn't a bad thing. Tanning--all that is, is your body protecting itself from the sun's ray's harm. It's a defense mechanism that has only in recent times been considered "pretty". Okay, end of lecture!

Oh, the hair. It might be the Spiro making it come out easily. I don't know. Since normally clothes would rub hair off by friction, you wouldn't notice it as easily as when pulling on it. I am curious to know if it keeps up. Mine disappeared, but it was under clothing which likely rubbed it off. ??

Keep us updated on that!

i hope that those directions err on the side of caution, because there is no way i am going to sacrifice my summer just because i am on spiro... of course i will start wearing sunscreen... but i'm not going to wear a big hat all over the place and never go anywhere outside between 10 and 3! so i hope the sunscreen will be enough. i have pretty light skin but have never had a problem with sunburn or light sensitivity so i am hoping the spiro won't make it super bad. i will start wearing sunscreen though... i don't want a discolored face. do you know if there is any rhyme or reason to where it may discolor? i noticed that the previous poster said it got discolored where she shaved. i don't shave my face except to shorten the fine peach fuzz, and that's just with an eyebrow shaper. i wonder if this will make any difference.

also, i think the way that my shirts generally lay on my body they probably don't rub much on my back. i don't know if that has anything to do with it. the first time i pulled back my fingers and found my back hairs on them i thought that maybe i had just loosened a few of the hairs that were not in the growing stage or something. but every time i reached back and pulled at the hairs a little bit, i would get more in my fingers. of course there is still plenty of hair there and i can feel it as usual but way more of it came off on my fingers than you would expect in normal circumstances. there isn't really anywhere else i can test it on my body. the longer hairs on my upper arms (closer to the bottom part) are firmly rooted as are my lower arm hairs. the hairs on the top part of my upper arm are too short to get a hold on in order to tug them. everywhere else, pretty much, i shave. i just started shaving in between my breasts and a little bit on my breasts (because of lower cut shirts for the warm weather) and i am kind of wishing i had put that off a few days so i could see if it was happening there too. it's certainly making me feel better even if it's just a fluke coincidence. i guess i just want to feel like the spiro is having some kind of effect on my body, however small. a new small pimple popped up on my chin earlier which made me feel like the spiro wasn't even going to help with that either (i don't have acne, i just get a couple pimples here and there, but it's frustrating to still get pimples at 23 when everyone else i see has perfectly clear skin.)

edit: ok, so i tried it on some shorter hairs that grow on/under my breasts, they are too short to grab but i kind of rubbed them and lo and behold, many hairs fell off and i could see them against the black of my bra where there had been none before. sorry for the detailed play by play but i am pretty excited about this. i don't know if it is the spiro or just some kind of natural phenomenon and they will just grow right back... but it's really a nice feeling to be able to just tug at unwanted hair and see some of it come off in your hands...

Chuckle.

It sounds like the spiro is kicking in for you. I couldn't help but picture a young lady pulling and picking at her body hair in excitement.


As far as the sun (and anything else), what you do and don't do, or will and won't do, is up to you. I will give you any information that I know, and you take it and do what you want with it.

I don't wear big hats either, unless the sun is just fiercely glarey. The avobenzone sunscreen should be enough. Just be sure to apply it often if you sweat or swim. Works for me. As for the face... I have a few small "liver" spots on my face because I didn't know about photosensitivity. Thankfully I caught it soon enough before I got spotted like a cheetah. They are easily covered with makeup (which, mine now has sunscreen in it) but I can imagine what would have happened to me if I never used the sunscreen. As for the previous poster, maybe what happened was that when she shaved, the hairs that would have deflected the sun were gone, hence the discoloration in those areas. Just an educated guess. My spots had nothing to do with shaving.

Pimples--spiro helps acne a whole lot if you have it, BUT it will not prevent an occasional pimple. Those just happen at times--usually hormonal, cyclical, or just lack of proper facial cleansing (nothing harsh, please!) Too much sun doesn't do it any favors either.

Well, as for the hairs... you could wax them and see if they grow back. I doubt they would become terminal since they aren't on your face, and they're falling out on their own anyway.

Cricket23--the only thing I know that will fade darkened spots on skin--like melasma or age spots--is hydroquinone, especially the 4%. BUT you only should use it on small parts of your skin (as in, don't rub it all over yourself!). It really works well, but know that you will be even MORE photosensitive. Let's say you use that stuff for 3 months and your spots fade. If you go out in the sun for 30 minutes unprotected, you can get those darkened areas right back, as if they never faded at all. It takes a long time to fade them, and a short time to get them back. It happens with black people and white people both.

The 2% hydroquinone is considered safer than the 4%, but works a lot more slowly. 4% needs a prescript (in this country and most others), 2% does not. Nobody I know has been harmed by either, so I don't know if the warnings are based on rats or people... or perhaps people who have misused it.

EDIT: Just curious--what does the little yellow flame mean before some threads? There is one next to this thread in the main Prescription forum.

ok, today i purchased some spf 15 facial moisturizer (i will just replace my normal everyday facial moisturizer with this. it says it should last all day unless you sweat a lot or go swimming.) that was the highest spf available for the product. i also purchased some spf 30 lotion for the body which i will apply in the mornings and then during the day if i need to. do you think this is enough? i really don't want discolored skin!

also, i assume tanning beds are out too? i have never used one, i usually just get a natural tan in the summer... i don't want to be a pale ghost creature this summer so i am exploring my options. i guess i may have to use a self tanning cream, it seems cheesy and cheap but i guess no one will be able to tell if i get a good, subtle one and apply it right...