P.C.O.S. Just Got Rebranded

As an elder Gen-Zer who recently made the bold decision to now refer to herself as a “woman” instead of a “girl,” I’m sad to say that I still occasionally check Facebook. Last week I was scrolling through it when I saw the same repost I’d seen a few scrolls up.

And then I saw it again.

And again.

And again.

Written by the New York Times, the original post read: “P.C.O.S. Has a New Name. Doctors Hope It Will Improve Care for Millions.” The new name: P.M.O.S.—or Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome. But I didn’t read the article, at first; instead, I read the countless reposts from my Facebook friends, all of which were women I haven’t spoken with in years, sharing their honest experiences of living with P.M.O.S. One post, from a woman whom the last time I saw was at our high school graduation, said: “This is just the start. Soon more women won’t need to feel the pain I did to receive the right care.”

Reading the headline as a brand strategist, I couldn’t help but wonder how much equity was being lost from the original name (P.C.O.S, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome), how women’s health brands will need to update their messaging, and if the Endocrine Society has thought about a new-name adoption strategy—but very rarely does a name change garner such emotional attention. Sure, a big corporate merger will get some headlines and a few press releases, but the average person isn’t pouring their hearts out on social media over it. That isn’t to say naming isn’t emotional, because it is. In fact, at Beardwood, we regularly remind our clients that naming can actually be the most emotional part of building their brand. Think about it: names can be passed down, shared, latched onto, identified with. Names carry humanity inside them, which means the wrong name can come with a cost that people pay first.

Reading the reposts as a newly confident woman, however, I was ashamed by how little knowledge I had on the health condition that I may be the most susceptible to.

For my Big Data™️ fans out there, here are the numbers:

• Today, roughly 1 in 8 women around the world live with P.M.O.S.
• 47% saw three or more doctors before a diagnosis
• 33% spent more than two years chasing a correct diagnosis

And if that isn’t bad enough…

• 70% of women with P.C.O.S. are still undiagnosed

At least once a day I’m hit with a targeted ad on social media for a new P.M.O.S. vitamin gummy, drink mix, or supplement. Each time, I can’t help but wonder: am I one of the 70% of undiagnosed cases? Is my algorithm trying to tell me something? Behind the numbers is the emotional weight of living with symptoms that have labeled women with P.M.O.S. as “giving up” or “lazy.” Chronic inflammation, extreme mood swings, constant fatigue, stomach pain, hair loss, anxiety, weight gain, infertility. One of my Facebook friends wrote on her repost: “Living with [P.M.O.S.], it’s hard not to feel like I’m failing at everything.”

The original name—Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome—is a descriptive, verbal map designed to point women and doctors in the direction of what symptoms to look for. In this case, the name says: “Women, look for multiple cysts on your ovaries (DUH!). If there aren’t cysts, you probably don’t have P.C.O.S.” What the name doesn’t tell you—and what experts and those living with P.M.O.S. will—is that the condition was never about cysts. It’s about the endocrine system (a.k.a. the network of organs and glands that send hormone messages all over your body so that you can live your life without having to constantly regulate your energy, mood, metabolism, stress, and insulin levels). Basically, the diagnostic process was like fitting a square peg in a round hole, when the hole should’ve always been square in the first place.

When you think about it, the decision to rename was a decision to listen. The science and research proved that there was more to P.M.O.S. than cysts, and women everywhere collectively thought: “No sh*t, that’s what we’ve been trying to tell you.” While the new name feels like a minor change compared to the original, the renaming process actually took about 14 years and considered more than 22,000 lived experiences—including that of one woman, Lorna Berry, who shared her story of living with P.M.O.S. with the expert team behind the rename: “It is about my daughters, their daughters, and the countless women yet to be born. We deserve clarity, understanding, and equitable healthcare from the very beginning.” (Endocrine Society)

Naming is clarity, and clarity is care.

Though P.M.O.S. isn’t a brand, it’s still a masterclass on the power of language and the impact a name can have on people, their lives, and the care they’re able to access. By more clearly reflecting the experience of living with P.M.O.S., the new name will help women like Lorna or my Facebook friends from high school or even me know what symptoms to look for and get diagnosed faster, safer, and more accurately. But just like we tell our clients, a brand name can’t do everything. Neither can a medical name. This name-change is only the first step in taking women’s healthcare seriously, and in order to continue the momentum, every name still being used to describe women's pain deserves the same 14-year audit. My Facebook friend was right; this is just the start.