Index
- What is puberty?
- Symptoms of puberty
- Treatments for puberty
- What specialist treats puberty?
What is puberty?
Puberty is the period, after childhood, between approximately 9 and 20 years of age. During this stage, psychological, biological, sexual and social changes occur, which can give rise to some pathologies or problems.
Among the best known puberty disorders is late puberty, in which a boy or girl, at the age of 14, has not yet begun the physical and psychological development towards adolescence. This late development may be due to genetic factors, hormonal causes, chromosomal abnormalities or tumors affecting the hormone-secreting glands or the hypothalamus.
On the other hand, there is another associated disorder called early puberty which consists of the onset of physical changes in boys and girls prematurely (before the age of 12): in girls the development of the mammary button usually occurs below the age of seven, and pubic hair before the age of eight; and in boys it consists of the appearance of pubic hair and the lengthening of genitalia between the ages of 7 and 10. Both early and late puberty may occur only partially or completely.
During puberty, physical and psychological
physical and psychological changes
Symptoms of puberty
Depending on the type of puberty, early or late, the symptoms may be different. In the case of precocious puberty, the symptoms are usually the same as in normal puberty, but appear before the age of 8 in girls and before the age of 9 in boys.
Late puberty has the characteristic that it does not start within the usual age range, but later. Although the symptoms are the same. Among the symptoms are the following:
- Pubic hair growth.
- Muscle growth.
- Acne.
- Breast development in girls and enlargement of testicles and penis in boys.
- Thickening of the voice in boys.
- Onset of menstruation in girls.
Treatments for puberty
Treatments depend on the symptoms that appear. In some cases the symptoms may be minimal, so no treatment is necessary. In other cases, depending on the symptoms, they may be treated.
Thus, treatment for precocious puberty may be to delay the time at which sexual development takes place. In addition, a child may also be psychologically unprepared for such a change. The treatment consists of preventing the production of sex hormones to slow growth, avoid short stature in adulthood, emotional effects and problems with libido.
Which specialist treats it?
The specialist who treats this pathology is the endocrinologist who studies diseases affecting the endocrine system.