Today in weird patient, the case of a child who develops precocious, very precocious puberty when he is only 16 months old. But how is this possible?
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[EN VIDÉO] “Children’s brains, infinite potential?” », a documentary by Jupiter Films Neuroscientists working in the United States present their thesis on the education of children. According to them, it is necessary to let their emotions express themselves, which are very different from those of adults since their brain is not yet fully structured. These theorists are promoters of mindfulness meditation, the practice of which they advocate for children. This is what the documentary “Children’s brains, infinite potential?” shows us. », broadcast in France by Jupiter Films.
A mother visits the emergency room of an Alabama hospital with her sixteen-month-old child, very worried by the signs of puberty precocious presented by his son. The child is exceptional in height and weight, he measures 90 centimeters and weighs 11 kilos, values well above the normal growth curves. His penis is also far too big for his age, eight centimeters long when stretched for two centimeters wide, with no increase in volume of the testicles. It also presents dark pubic hair. Obviously, the child is going through more than precocious puberty.
Puberty that starts at 16 months
The interview with the parents does not reveal anything notable. On the mother’s side, pregnancy andchildbirth went off without a hitch. She breastfed her child for a year. The father on his side suffers from hyperthyroidism, a cause for which he lived puberty precocious and he stopped growing at the age of 14. Could this be a clue to explain the symptoms of his son ? No, examination of the neck does not reveal any abnormal enlargement of its thyroid.
The blood tests are good, except for one parameter: his rate of testosterone very high (60 ng/mL). The parents are informed of the results, but do not return to the hospital for four months. During the second interview, the father breaks down and informs the doctors that he is taking testosterone in freeze to solve problems of libido following depression. He applies it twice a day to the chest, shoulders and back since a year. The child sleeps in the same bed as his parents.
The testosterone in question
This case of precocious puberty is therefore due to regular exposure to testosterone via his father’s bare skin. Testosterone is a hormone steroid that causes the maturation of the genitals, the growth of muscles and bones and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics (hair, moult voice) in boys, from 9 years old to 16 years old. When the exposure to testosterone disappears, the symptoms regress, but scientists have little information on the long-term consequences of this type of health problem. The cases of “virilization” of very young children are onlya handful in the scientific literature. More recently, a similar story was reported in England where a two-year-old boy, Barnaby Brownsell, grew a beard andacne following an exposure similar to that experienced by the little boy from Alabama.
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