Precocious puberty (early stage puberty) – appearance of secondary sexual characteristics before the age of 8 years in girls and 9 years in boys. Secondary sexual characteristics include breast and/or pubic hair development in girls, and testicular enlargement and/or pubic hair development in boys. Other signs that may accompany pubertal onset include vaginal discharge or bleeding (oestrogen effects), acne, voice deepening (androgen effects), growth acceleration, and advanced skeletal maturation (both oestrogen and androgen effects).
Central precocious puberty is gonadotropin-dependent and occurs as a result of early activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis i.e. for girls symptoms include: breast development and vaginal discharge or bleeding and for boys breast development and testicular enlargement.
Peripheral precocious puberty (precocious pseudopuberty) – gonadotropin-independent and occurs because of excess production of sex hormones from the gonads, the adrenal glands, or ectopic or exogenous sources i.e. symptoms include: Girls with contra-sexual peripheral precocious puberty exhibit signs of virilization (pubic or axillary hair development, acne, clitoromegaly) due to androgen hormone excess (as in this patient), whereas boys with contra-sexual peripheral precocious puberty show signs of feminisation (gynecomastia) due to oestrogen hormone excess.
Causes include:
Ovarian cysts or ovarian tumours (both of which typically secrete oestrogen)
Rare forms of ovarian tumours, such as gonadoblastomas, secrete androgen (females) androgen-secreting adrenal tumours and/or congenital adrenal hyperplasia (male and female).
Please talk to your healthcare professional (i.e. Medical Doctor/Pharmacist) for further advice
Detailed Information
Please copy and paste any key words from the title: Cushings Syndrome in the following respective 'Medtick References and/or Sources' to find out more about the disease (this also may include diagnosis tests and generic medical treatments).
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