Onset of puberty in friend's 8yo boy - help advice much needed

[givenupforlent]

My friend's 8yo ds has been having greasy hair and spots/blackheads for about 6 months now and she has just noticed he has started growing pubic hair. Understandably she is freaked by this and has read all kinds of things on internet sites about precocious puberty causing growth spurt followed by no further growth at all as well as testicular cancers etc. Another of my friends dd started puberty at age 3/4 and it was caused by an adrenal tumour (benign) - Does anyone have any experience of early puberty in boys?

had a friend whose dd went into early pubery at 7-8 yrs,she got pubic hair at 7.5 but never started her period until a normal 12 yrs.She saw a consultant at the time but nothing was ever done and she is a normal 15yr old now.

I hope that reassures your friend a bit,chances are everything will be fine but a visit to a specialist should be arranged for further tests.

thanks prunegirl - i think her main concern is that he is a boy. puberty does seem to occur earlier in girls and precocious puberty is relatively common.

Any chance we could all ask our dh's at what age they started to change? or mums of older sons

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I think she'd need to see an Endocrinologist? I have a friend who sees one for her DS at Gt Ormond St for various things but has recently decided to "delay puberty", so it can be done....

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I'm going through this with my daughter but do not know anything about the differences with precocious puberty in boys. I would take him to his GP and ask for a referral to a paediatrician. They will take lots of blood and run tests (often X-ray for growth) and would refer further if there was a concern. I am still waiting for a referral for my daughter to discuss implications of growth so the sooner she starts the process the better (the waiting lists tend to be very long).