Seeing daughter body develops faster than other kids such as extra size of chest, body smell, pimple, armpit hair or menstruation. We recommend you to bring her to see a doctor as early puberty may lead to other effects for example socializing with friends, height which destroy confidence and safety in herself. Therefore, she should receive advice for an accurate treatment.
What is Early Puberty?
In general, girl steps to puberty by 8-13 but if there is change of their breast size before 8 including menstruation before age of 9 considered this symptom as early puberty.
This condition starts with enlargement of the breast. The lump is found under the armpit which could be hurtful or not at all. After that the breast will continue developing rapidly. During this stage it takes around 1-3 years before menstruation.
Why She Has Early Puberty?
The exact cause of this condition is still unknown. There are factors that may be related to this condition for example:
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- Genetics – Families with history of this disease such as mothers has menstruation in young age or father has his voice faster than his friends.
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- Birth – Children born with insufficient weight or seizures.
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- Nutrition – children with insuffecient weight or weight that increase rapidly. There is a chance of your kids to grow up faster than others.
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- Environment – exposing chemicals from air or food accidently.
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- Pathology
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- Pathology in the brain, such as tumor at the pituitary gland or other parts that stimulate the production of sex hormones or may be caused by a lack of oxygen where radiation used to be performed.
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- Gonad Gland Pathology such as tumors or ovarian cysts.
How to Diagnose When The Child Has Early Puberty
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- The doctor will thoroughly review the history of patient’s illness including physical examination.
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- Additional Examination in The Laboratory
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- Bone age detection by the left wrist x-ray. Children with pre-puberty tend to have older bones than their actual bone age. This way a doctor can assess their height before growing up estimately.
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- Ultrasound around the abdomen and pelvic. It is useful for finding ovarian tumors or cysts.
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- Measure the blood hormone levels by venipuncture after using GnRH analog stimulation (GnRH stimulation test)
What is The Impact of Early Puberty?
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- Physical Impact : According to the higher sex hormone levels. As a result, the children then develop faster than other kids. In fact, the hormone will block the bone from growing causing them short stature when they become adult.
- Psychosocial Impact: When the physical body develops the mind is still young. It can cause children to worry that what happens to their body for example being introvert or shy. Some of them may have early menstruation and may not able to manage its hygiene properly including a risk for sexual insulting. Moreover, certain of children have to deal with mood swing daily.
How to Provide The Treatment
Doctor will treat them based on cause, some receive injection to inhibit the production of hormones comes from the pituitary gland also sex hormone to let their bone grow normally. However, the treatment is under individual condition.
