Osmosis video - Precocious puberty

Precocious puberty, also known as early puberty, refers to the occurrence of secondary sexual characteristics in children before the age of 8 in girls and before the age of 9 in boys. In some children, early development is triggered by a disease such as a tumor or injury of the brain. Precocious puberty can also be a result of other pathologies such as pinealoma, McCune-Albright syndrome, and 21-hydroxylase deficiency. Treatment for precocious puberty usually involves hormone therapy or medications to suppress the early activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.