Today, in Weird patient, the case of a child who develops precocious, very early puberty when he is only 16 months old. But how is this possible?
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A mother goes to the emergency room of an Alabama hospital with her sixteen-month-old child, very concerned about her son’s signs of early puberty. The child is unusual in terms of his height and weight, he measures 90 centimeters and weighs 11 kilos, values well above normal growth curves. His penis is also way too big for his age, eight centimeters long when stretched and two centimeters wide, with no increase in size. volumevolume testicles. He also has dark pubic hair. Obviously, the child is going through puberty more than early.
Puberty which begins at 16 months
The interview with the parents revealed nothing notable. On the mother’s side, the pregnancy and delivery went smoothly. She breastfed her child for a year. The father for his part suffers from hyperthyroidismhyperthyroidism, cause he experienced early puberty and stopped growing at the age of 14. Could this be a clue to explain the symptomssymptoms of his son ? No, examination of the neck does not reveal any abnormal enlargement of its thyroidthyroid.
The blood tests are good, except for one parameter: his very high testosterone level (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 testosteronetestosterone in freezefreeze to resolve problems of libidolibido following depression. He applies it twice a day to the chest, shoulders and backback since a year. The child sleeps in the same bed as his parents.
Testosterone in question
This case of precocious puberty is therefore due to regular exposure to testosterone via the bare skin of his father. Testosterone is a hormonehormone steroid which causes the maturation of the genital organs, the growth of muscles and bones and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics (hair, moltmolt of voice) in boys, from 9 years old to 16 years old. When exposure to testosterone disappears, symptoms resolve, but scientists have little information on the long-term consequences of this type of health problem. Cases of “virilization” of very young children are only a handful in the scientific literature. More recently, a similar story was reported in England where a two-year-old boy, Barnaby Brownsell, developed a beard andacneacne following an exposure similar to that experienced by the little boy from Alabama.
