The PCO misdiagnosis epidemic.

There seems to be an epidemic of PCO ( polycystic ovarian disease) today, but I think this is a myth.

This is because making the diagnosis has become so easy today – all you need to do is order a “PCO panel of blood tests” from a medical lab. In fact, lots of online portals will allow you to self-diagnose yourself, and order the tests yourself ( through their portal of course, where their preferred partners are happy to give them a kickback for the tests).

Also, these labs spend so much money on “creating awareness” about this “disease”, that every second teenager has started believing she has PCOD ! Have a little bit of acne ? Oh – then make sure you don’t have PCO ! Put on a little bit of weight ? You may have PCO ! Find a few extra hair on your face ? Make sure you dont have PCO !

This is why there is so much overdiagnosis and over-testing .

Now PCO is not a new disease – it’s just that we’re able to apply the diagnostic label with much more ease !

Thus, it’s very common for hairdressers and beauticians to tell a client who has a little extra hair or some acne or oily skin that they may have PCO, and they need to test for it !

They are then happy to “refer” the customer to a friendly skin specialists, who is happy to order the tests. There is a high probability that the test results will come back as abnormal, and once a diagnostic label of PCO has been stuck onto a patient, it remains for life !

This is the real tragedy , because it’s not really helping anyone – and it just ends up creating  more anxiety when they read about PCO on Dr Google !

You can read more about how we treat PCOD at  http://www.drmalpani.com/knowledge-center/the-infertile-woman/how-to-manage-your-pcod