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What PCOS is, and what the name gets wrong

Start here if a scan report or a clinician has put the word in front of you for the first time.

Lesson 1 of 5

10 min Text

What this lesson says

  • The follicles seen on an ultrasound are not cysts that need removing and they do not burst
  • PCOS describes a pattern involving ovulation and hormones, not one finding on one scan
  • It is common, it is manageable, and it is not a condition you caused
  • Prevalence estimates in India vary widely between studies depending on the criteria used

This is general education. It is not advice about your own situation, and it does not replace seeing a clinician.

Written lesson.
  1. 1. The name is the first obstacle, and it frightens people before anybody has explained anything. Polycystic ovary syndrome sounds like a description of cysts. It is not. The small structures a radiologist sees and counts are follicles — the ordinary fluid-filled sacs in which eggs develop — seen in larger numbers than average.
  2. 2. They do not need removing. They do not rupture. A scan that reports polycystic-looking ovaries is describing an appearance, and the radiologist writing it is not making a diagnosis.
  3. 3. What the condition actually describes is a pattern in how the ovaries and certain hormones work together, which shows up in some combination of three things: ovulation that is irregular or absent, signs that androgens are raised, and that appearance on a scan. The next lesson covers how those three are used.
  4. 4. It is one of the commonest hormonal conditions in women of reproductive age. Estimates of how common vary a great deal between studies in India and elsewhere, because they depend on which criteria were applied and to which population — so treat any single confident percentage you read with caution.
  5. 5. Two things it is worth knowing before anything else. It is manageable: there are established treatments and they work. And it is not something you brought on yourself, whatever anybody has implied about your weight, your diet or your habits.

All lessons in this course

  1. 1 What PCOS is, and what the name gets wrong 10 min Reading now
  2. 2 How it is diagnosed, and what gets ruled out first 12 min
  3. 3 Treatment is aimed at goals, not at the condition 13 min
  4. 4 Lifestyle: what the evidence supports, and what it does not 12 min
  5. 5 Questions to take to your own clinician 8 min

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