Why do girls' breasts grow bigger?

When girls begin to enter puberty at the age of 11 to 12, their bodies begin to develop significantly. These developments will have different changes, which determine whether the body has entered the normal physiological stage. The most obvious change in many women's bodies is the enlargement of their breasts. However, if children have premature breast development, this can be considered to be caused by many different reasons.

Overview of Early Breast Development

Causes

1. Nutritional improvement: Today’s family living conditions have become better, nutrition has improved, diseases have decreased, and children’s growth and development have accelerated, leading to earlier sexual development and an increase in sexual maturity.

2. Environmental pollution: Industrial pollution is increasing in today’s society, and food also contains a large amount of pesticide or hormone pollution. These pollutant residues, after passing through the skin or directly eaten, are a cause of precocious puberty in children.

3. Foods containing hormones: Many vegetables and poultry nowadays contain large amounts of hormones. Some sex hormones can indirectly enter the human body and cause precocious puberty in children.

4. Blindly taking supplements: "Supplements are one of the main causes of precocious puberty in children." Some parents often give their children health supplements that increase appetite, improve intelligence and strengthen the brain. However, they do not know that these supplements often contain hormone ingredients. Long-term use can cause the hormone level in children's blood to rise, thus leading to precocious puberty in children.

5. Contraceptive pills and cosmetics cause precocious puberty.

6. Sexual information: Today’s society is an information society with highly developed media. Children can not only get a lot of sexually suggestive images from television, but also be exposed to sexual information from the Internet. "You can access pornographic information and some adult VCDs on the Internet at any time. If children are exposed to them too much, it will stimulate their psychology prematurely and eventually cause them to mature early." Some parents often talk about arranging marriages or marrying their children to someone in front of their children. Little do they know that these words will have an unexpected effect on children's sexual impulses and the awakening of their sexual consciousness, and may even lead to precocious puberty in children. "In Shanghai, where research on precocious puberty in children is relatively mature, many experts have put forward similar views."

7. Excessive light exposure: This is also one of the important reasons for inducing precocious puberty in children, because light can affect the normal functioning of the pineal gland, an endocrine organ in the brain.

Diagnosis

1. Symptoms and Signs

Pseudo-precocious puberty may manifest as gonad size consistent with age, but secondary sexual characteristics develop prematurely, and the order of occurrence is the same as that of puberty. The main manifestations are breast enlargement or premature pubic hair, as follows:

1. Simple breast development: The breasts of female babies are enlarged, mostly unilaterally and progressively, and may become static or regress later. Other sexual characteristics appear according to normal rules. It may be caused by the ovaries temporarily secreting a small amount of estrogen. It should be differentiated from true precocious puberty and increased chest fat caused by obesity.

2. Simple premature pubic hair: The reason is excessive secretion of adrenal androgen or sensitivity of hair follicles to androgen. It does not affect health and is more common in girls. His stature is taller than other children of the same age, and his condition should be differentiated from congenital adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal tumors.

3. Gynecomastia: The breasts of newborns may increase in size due to the influence of hormones from the mother, but will disappear on their own after a few weeks. 2/3 of adolescent boys have enlarged breasts, which is caused by increased testosterone and a slight increase in estradiol, and disappears on its own after a few months. Some cases of gynecomastia are familial and have nothing to do with endocrine factors. This disease is also seen in testicular Leydig cell tumors, adrenal feminizing tumors, primary testicular dysgenesis (Klinefelter's syndrome), and male pseudohermaphroditism.

4. Drug-induced precocious puberty: The use or misuse of estrogen can cause breast development and areola pigmentation in boys and girls. Exogenous estrogen can cause the growth of beards, pubic hair, and armpit hair. Symptoms subsided six months after stopping the medication.

5. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia: 21-hydroxylase deficiency causes accumulation of progesterone and 17-hydroxyprogesterone, and increased testosterone synthesis. It can cause pseudo-precocious puberty in males or females.

2. Inspection

The measurement of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and LH in the blood by radioimmunoassay can help distinguish true from false precocious puberty. People with constitutional precocious puberty may have enlarged ovaries and cystic changes. If adrenal cortical disease is suspected, retroperitoneal pneumatic radiography may be performed. Take anteroposterior and lateral views of the head to observe the size of the sella turcica to exclude tumors, etc.