Attending surgeon Zeng Hongbiao, children of Quanzhou Children's Hospital:
Due to the influence of estrogen in the body, some 6-9-year-old girls will have tender lumps under one or both nipples, the size is about 1.0-2.5 cm, the texture is slightly hard, and the surface skin and areola are generally normal. This condition is called "abnormal hyperplasia of mammary glands", also known as "nipple bud", which is a normal physiological change and usually does not need treatment.
In childhood, the concentration of estrogen in blood is still at a low level. For children aged 6-9, it can only affect one breast. Many children's submandibular masses can disappear after a few months, but they may reappear soon. Or after the lump on one side subsides, the other side soon swells again, and of course, both sides may swell at the same time. This situation may last for 2-4 years before entering adolescence.
Some people may think that it is a little early for such a young child to grow milk buds. In fact, it is not early at all, because breast buds are not the beginning of puberty, but at most they are in the bud. What people call secondary sexual characteristics will take several years to appear, so parents can take it easy. Some girls also have the above changes when they are about 4 years old, which may be related to the intake of nutrients. Parents should pay attention to it and check the level of estrogen in the blood if necessary.
A small number of young girls' breasts begin to develop over 2 years old. They are conical in shape, symmetrical left and right, and have no other abnormalities in their bodies. This phenomenon is called "early breast development", which may be related to the abnormal sensitivity of the breast to normal concentrations of hormones in the body. However, some young girls, in addition to breast enlargement, will also have dark areola, dark midline of lower abdomen, dark vulva and increased leucorrhea, which belongs to the category of precocious puberty. The pathological changes of pituitary gland, pineal gland, adrenal gland and ovary can be diagnosed by blood test, CT and B-ultrasound.