What Leads To Pubic Hair Growth In A 4 Year Old?

Posted on Mon, 17 Aug 2015

Question: Hello , My 4 year old daughter is growing public hair. I took her to her pediatrician and she ran blood test to check for hormones and everything came back with in normal range for her age. She is not growing armpit hair. no other symptoms like body odor or breast growth. Her height percentile is always same. she always had little upper lip hair. now it seems little darker than before. Her pediatrician thinks upper lip hair is hereditary as I always had it too. Should I be worried about her pubic hair?

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
I do not think that it should be something to worry about.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have gone carefully through the query. I do not think that you need to worry. It could be just a hereditary perdisposition that could be responsible for the pubic hair growth. This does not necessarily mean that puberty is coming. You need to get concerned only if you feel that other secondary sexual characteristics are developing out of proportion to her age. I do not think that such a thing will happen. Since your doctor has already done the tests, you need not worry further.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (11 hours later)

Hello Dr.Diptanshu,

Thank you so much for your reply. Happy to hear that, it is not something to worry about. I have one more question. Could this be early adrenarche? if so, do we need to rule out any chances of tumors on adrenal glands? I heard that can cause very early adrenarche. Sorry if my question doesn't make sense.

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (19 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
I would not consider it to be an early adrenarche

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for writing back. Let me assure that your question is in fact an intelligent one anf fully makes sense. However, I have already explained that since there are no other secondary sexual characteristics, I would not consider it to be an early adrenarche which is the other name of premature puberty. You may periodically get a blood assay of adrenal androgens like DHEA but I do not think it to be required unless secondary sexual characteristics start appearing soon. Before that the worries about adrenal tumors do not arise. The following page contains an algorithm which will guide you about the tests to be done:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/759350_3

Hope that helps. Feel free to write back in case of any further queries and I would be happy to help.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj

Follow up: Dr. Diptanshu Das (2 hours later)

Thank you so much for all the info Doctor. I really appreciate it. I am going to close discussion. Thanks again.

Answered by Dr. Diptanshu Das (8 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Glad to be of service

Detailed Answer:
Glad to know that it helped. In that case perhaps you would like to leave a positive review and a 5 star rating. Feel free to contact me back whenever you need and I would be glad to help.

Regards

Note: For further queries related to your child health, Talk to a Pediatrician. Click here to Book a Consultation.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T