Central precocious puberty (CPP) refers to a common endocrine disease in children, in which the function of hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis (HPGA) starts earlier, and the internal and external reproductive organs develop rapidly before girls are 8 years old and boys are 9 years old, and secondary sexual characteristics appear. There are obvious individual differences in the speed of sexual development. Generally, the development process can last for 3 ~ 4 years, and the progress of each Tanner stage of girls lasts for about 6 months to 1 year. (Tanner staging is a grading system for adolescent development)
The order of sexual development of precocious puberty children is the same as that of normal children.
The order of adolescent development of girls is: breast development, changes of pubic hair and external genitalia, axillary hair growth and menstrual cramps. Boys will start with enlarged testicles (4ml is symbolic development), then the penis will thicken, pubic hair and armpit hair will grow, the voice will thicken, a moustache will grow, and spermatorrhea will begin to appear.
Precocious puberty means that children enter the stage of sexual development earlier than other children.
Generally speaking, before girls are 8 years old and boys are 9 years old, they begin to have the characteristics of sexual development, so we can suspect that children are precocious.
At this time, you need to take your child to the hospital to seek the help of a professional doctor.
How to treat precocious puberty
Dr. L told me that if the child is really diagnosed with precocious puberty, it can be treated with drugs. The sooner it is found and treated, the better the effect will be.
At present, gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues are widely used at home and abroad to treat precocious puberty in children.
Through the action of drugs, the hormones in the body are regulated, the sexual development process is controlled, and the epiphysis is prevented from closing prematurely, thus prolonging the growth time of children, and children are more likely to grow taller.
Therefore, in order to achieve the best therapeutic effect, it is necessary to treat it on time, and the child must maintain enough drug dosage.
When to stop taking drugs depends on the purpose of treatment.
If the adult height of children is to be improved, the treatment will generally last for more than 2 years, and the bone age of children will reach 12 ~ 13 years (girls 12 years, boys 13 years), and then the drug will be stopped.
However, this is not the only criterion. When to stop taking drugs, in addition to considering the wishes of parents and children, doctors need to carefully and comprehensively evaluate, so be sure to follow the doctor's advice.
As parents, we all want our children to grow up healthily, but there are always many unpredictable factors that will bring us trouble and anxiety, and precocious puberty is just one of them.