Early Puberty

Precocious puberty is an unusually early onset of puberty, the process of sexual maturation triggered by the brain or exogenous chemicals, which usually begins in late childhood and results in reproductive maturity and completion of growth. There are two following types:
* Early puberty which is natural in every way except age is termed idiopathic central precocious puberty (i.e. normal MRI scan brain, normal thyroid gland, normal physical examination, no abnormal symptom except her pubertal growth). There is no underlying medical problem. In other words, this early puberty is a variation of normal development.
* Secondary sexual development induced by sex steroids from other abnormal sources (gonadal or adrenal tumors, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, etc.) is referred to as peripheral precocious puberty or precocious pseudopuberty.
The goal of treating precocious puberty is to halt or even reverse sexual development and stop the rapid growth and bone maturation that can eventually result in adult short stature. In the idiopathic case, there is no medical underlying cause to be treated. The medications (e.g. decapeptyl and cyproterone acetate) are to lower the high levels of sex hormones to stop sexual development from progressing. It is generally safe and usually causes no side effects in kids. With the treatments, the child's behavior usually becomes more age appropriate as well.