What is puberty?

Puberty is the period of life when the body changes from child to adult. sexual organs and bodies as a whole evolve, develop and / or change functioning. Growth is accelerating. The adolescent approaches his adult height at the end of his puberty. His body will be able to reproduce, the reproductive function is then said to be acquired.

The puberty changes occur as a result of a hormonal upheaval. The endocrine glands, especially the ovaries and testes, stimulated by messages from the brain, produce sex hormones. These hormones generate the appearance of these changes. The body changes and develops (weight, morphology and size), bones and muscles lengthen.

In young girls …

The ovary start to produce female hormones such as estrogen. The first visible sign of puberty is the breast development. Then come the hairiness in the sexual area and armpits and the change in appearance of the vulva. The latter, whose labia minora enlarge, becomes horizontal because of the enlargement and tilting of the pelvis. Then, about a year later, the White discharge appear, then, within two years of the onset of breast development, the rules arise. These are often irregular at the beginning and the first cycles do not always involve ovulation. Then the cycles usually become more and more regular (around 28 days). Finally, the pelvis widens and adipose tissue grows and changes distribution. The hips, buttocks and stomach become more rounded. Female puberty begins on average at 10 and a half years (age of the appearance of the breast bud¹). The full development of the breasts which, after the onset of menstruation, signals the end of puberty, is acquired on average at 14 years of age.

In boys …

The testes grow larger and increase their production of Testosterone. It is also one of the first visible signs of puberty in young men. The sexual hair appears, the scrotum becomes pigmented, and the penis grows. The testicles begin to grow on average at 11 years old, which signals the onset of puberty. The pubic hair that marks the end of puberty is on average final at 15 years, the age when the boy becomes fertile. But the changes continue: the voice change can be done up to 17 or 18 years and the facial and chest hair will not be complete until much later, sometimes at 25 or 35 years old. In more than half of boys, breast enlargement occurs at puberty between the ages of 13 and 16. This is often worrying for a boy, but it settles in about a year, although a very small palpable mammary gland may persist in a third of adult men.

At puberty, in both girls and boys, sweating in the armpits and sexual area increases, hairiness in these same areas appears. Under the effect of testosterone, in boys as in girls, the skin becomes more oily, and this increases the risk of acne, common at this age.

Puberty also generates psychological changes. Anxiety, worry, anguish can appear. Body changes that occur during puberty can influence personality of the adolescent, his emotions and thoughts, very often with physical complexes due to the rapid changes in his body. But the biggest psychological change in puberty is the onset of sexual desire, associated with fantasies and possibly erotic dreams. The appearance of the desire for pregnancy is also very common in girls.

The age of onset of puberty and its duration are variable.