Weiwei, a 7-year-old girl with a height of 142cm, has grown more than ten centimeters taller in the past year. Until one bath, I accidentally found that the child's breasts had enlarged, and there was a small lump on the touch, Weiwei's mother didn't care at first, and it dragged on for half a year, until Weiwei's menstrual period came, and her mother realized the seriousness of the problem.
The next day, my mother took Weiwei to the pediatric growth and development clinic of the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University for treatment.
The examination results showed that Weiwei's bone age exceeded 3 years of the same age, pelvic ultrasound showed that the uterine volume did not match the age, the follicle had been significantly enlarged, and the luteinizing hormone was increased, and the pituitary MRI showed Rathke's cyst, which was a clinical manifestation of precocious puberty. If this situation continues, it may be difficult for the child's future height to exceed 150cm.
Weiwei's mother said that Weiwei is usually very obedient, never let her eat fried food, and rarely drink carbonated drinks. How do you start developing at the age of 7?
After understanding, it turned out that Weiwei was afraid of the dark, so she slept with the nightlight at the head of the bed all night to sleep peacefully, and this is exactly what affects the child the most.
Using a night light all night or sleeping with the light on for a long time will lead to a decrease in the secretion of melatonin in the body, and melatonin can inhibit the release of adenohypotuitary gonadotropin, which will not only cause precocious puberty, but also easily lead to myopia in children. At the same time, pituitary MRI Rathke cysts were more severe in the progression of Vivi's precocious puberty.
Fortunately, after treatment, Weiwei's symptoms have improved significantly. Doctors recommend rechecking hormone levels, gynaecological ultrasound, and bone age every 3 months. If the height gain in the later stage is not satisfactory after the use of inhibitors, growth hormone therapy can be added.
What are the other causes of precocious puberty?
Disease factors
Disorders that may affect the secretion of hormones from the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (testicles or ovaries) axis can cause precocious puberty.
Childhood obesity
Being overweight or obese in children increases the risk of precocious puberty and can lead to many complications. At the same time, puffed foods, fried foods, and foods high in oil, sugar, and salt will increase the fat content in the child's body, and the content of leptin will also increase accordingly.
Ingestion of hormone-containing foods and medications
Some unscrupulous businesses, in order to achieve the effect of short-term elevation, will add hormones to health care products in violation of regulations. In addition, large tonic and nourishing products, such as ginseng and cordyceps, are taboo in children's diet.
Early exposure to sexual knowledge
In the Internet era, there are more and more ways for children to understand information, coupled with the fact that they like to imitate, some inappropriate language and pictures on the Internet can easily induce children's sexual germination, stimulate children, and appear precocious.
Common environmental hormones in life
DDT organic element compounds: When the human body ingests foods containing DDT, it will have a similar effect to estrogen, disrupting the normal functioning of the endocrine system.
Bisphenol A: After bisphenol A is absorbed by the human body, the human body will mistake it for a real hormone and cause dysregulation of the endocrine system, and even induce mutations in severe cases. Bisphenol A is also particularly harmful to men's sperm and testicles, which can reduce sperm count and cause impotence.
Phthalates: Phthalates are very toxic, it will not only destroy the genetic material of sperm, that is, DNA, but also cause pregnancy complications and miscarriage, resulting in fetal malformations, endocrine disorders, genital growth disorders and other problems.
Polyester: Polyester can induce hormone secretion disorders in the human body.
How harmful is precocious puberty to children?
Impaired height
Children with precocious puberty often have a much earlier epiphyseal closure due to the early initiation of sex hormones, and the growth period is correspondingly shorter, and the final height of children with precocious puberty will be shorter than that of their peers.
Psychological disorders
Premature physical development can be a psychological burden for young children. Although children's sexual development begins to mature, their actual age and psychological maturity are not consistent with this, which can easily cause children's psychological disorders such as low self-esteem and autism.
Decline in academic performance
Girls develop too early and are not able to deal with the impact of menstruation on their lives, and due to the imbalance in physical and psychological development, they also bring a lot of inconvenience to life, which will inevitably affect children's reading and learning.
Social issues
Because precocious puberty can produce sexual impulses that do not correspond to age, it is easy to go astray and cause some social problems such as early love, sexual behavior, alcoholism and other risky behaviors.
Self-diagnosis of precocious puberty
— Self-diagnosis of a boy —
— Self-diagnosis for girls —
Experts remind: Relying on self-diagnosis alone cannot diagnose whether a child has precocious puberty, but it can predict that "the probability of a child having precocious puberty is relatively high". When the child has the above abnormalities, it is necessary to go to a professional outpatient clinic for examination to diagnose whether it is really precocious puberty.