About Puberty development in boys

For boys the onset of puberty is between 9.5 and 15 years and puberty completes by the ages 18 years. In the litterature it is said that puberty begins in the ages 9.5-12.5, but this information is biased by a steadily earlier onset of pubetrty in Northern America and Weatern Europe, which again is a result of the modern lifestyle.

The pubertial development is controlled by hormons. Growth hormone and male hormons (androgens) are the factors mediating puberty. The hypothalamus performs the superior comtrol. This part of the brain begin excreting the gonadotropin-releasing hormone or GnRH (also known as LH-releasing hormone) that influences the pituitary gland (hypophysis), a gland placed inside the skull below the hypothalamus, so that this gland increases its own production of hormones,

Under the influence of GnRh, the pituitary then increaces the production of the hormons luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), that in turn influences the testicles.

LH now stimulates the testicles to increase the production of testosterone that is the main hormone causing the pubertal development. FSH stimulates the testicles to produce sperm cells.

The pubertial development proceedes generally as follows, with the signs listed here in chronological order.:


Stage 1 - The prepubertal stage

Allready during the stage before that which is concidered puberty, the body and the genitals develop in shape and appearance. The body gradually gets a shape which is fairly similar to the body shape of a mature man. The penis also grows gradually during this stage, but how much it grows, vary conciderably from boy to boy. Some boys have a very tiny penile size during all of this period, while other boys get a penis of a size fairly near to the mature size allready during this time. The development of the penis during this period, however, has little conequences for the size it will eventually get when the man is fully mature. Tiny penises tend to grow a lot during the puberty, while greater penises may not grow som much during duberty.

Other genital development than that of the penis does not normally occur during the prepubertal years. br>

Stage 3 - early puberty

In the littereature this stage is said to begin in the age span from 9.5 - 12.5, but this indication is biased by the steadily earlier development seen in western countries. A health boy need not reach this stage before age 15.

In this stage, the boy begins to get pubic hair, but it is confined to the area around the genitals and the scrotum. How much hair a boy will get, depends very much upon racial characteristics and genetic inheritance. A boy that grows very little hair can therefore be perfectly sound.

During this stage the penis grows longer, but only little in width. The scrotal skin tend to get thinner.

The prostate begins to produce secretions, and ejaculation begins to occur. Also the testicles begin to produce sperm sells somewhat later, and the boy will then be fertile.

Boys also get a certain breast development during puberty, and it usually starts at the early faces of puberty. Boys have some small inactive milk glands that tend to enlarge during this time, and can be felt like hard lumps around the breast nipples. Many boys also gain some more fat tissue in the area around the breast nipples. The enlarged glands tend to regress in the early faces of adulthood, but the extra fat tissue may remain and give an adult man small breasts. Such a development is not signs of anything wrong, but many boys do not get it to a clearly visible extent. The western culture tend to regard it as something abnormal, which is a faulty stance.


Stage 4 - late puberty

This stage can begin 1.5 to 2 years after the first signs of puberty, which will say in the ages from 11.5 to 18. During this tage the activity of the prostate and testicles increase and the ejaculations get stronger.

The penis grows further, especially in width. The penis head, the glans, will especialy enlarge.

The axillary hair begin growing. Growth of facial hair begins.

There will also be more or less laryngeal growth and lengthening of vocal cords, cusing voise break.

A peak body growth rate will often occur between the ages of 12 to 17 years. Testosterone inhibits this growth spurt by fusing of the epiphyses.

Stage 5 - Full maturation

Also after the full maturation there will be some increase in penis size to some extend and the muscle apparatus will tend to grow more massive.

Gradually the pubic hair gets thicker, and can begin extending further than the genital area, and the boy will get stronger hair growth on the body. But again boys are very individual regarding how much body hair and facial hair they will have. A nearly smooth boy can have a perfectly sound pubertal development.


The penile foreskin

The foreskin (or prepuce) is a natural, retractile, protective covering for the glans (head) of the penis, and is the most erotogenic area of the penis in terms of the quantity, concentration, and quality of specialized nerve receptors and stretch receptors that it is endowed with, especially on its inner mucosal lining (which gets redeployed behind the glans during erection).

At the lower end of the slit that is the urethral outlet there is a skinfold that connects to the foreskin and hold the foreskin tight up to the under-side of the penis when the penis is erect or the foreskin is withdrawn, the frenulum. The frenulum makes it easier for the foreskin to slide back when an erection subsides.

The average adult foreskin consists of 1½ inches of outer skin, 1½ inches of inner mucosal lining – totaling a length of 3 inches – and is 5 inches in circumference when erect. This amounts to a surface area of 15 square inches, or a surface area equivalent to that of a 3" by 5" inch index card!

The foreskin contains over 240 feet of nerves and over 1,000 nerve endings, as well as being a highly vascularized structure.

The foreskin contains “junctional mucosa that appear to be an important component of the overall sensory mechanism of the human penis” –J. R. Taylor et al. The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision. British Journal of Urology (1996) 77, pp. 291-295.

The foreskin is not vestigial or redundant tissue, in that no other part of the male body does what the foreskin does, or feels what the foreskin feels.

The foreskin serves to protect the glans, thereby maintaining the surface of the glans in a natural condition regarding naturally-intended thinness, texture, and sensitivity.

The foreskin has rich sensations in and of itself. The foreskin also plays a mechanical-lubrication role. It serves as a gliding sheath during masturbation or sexual activity, rendering the quality of the friction between the man and his partner more gentle, less abrasive. This is useful to the woman, especially with prolonged intercourse and especially with age, when she provides less liquid lubrication.

The fact that the foreskin in infancy is usually non-retractile serves to protect the baby’s glans penis from urine and feces during the period that he is incontinent.

Women have a foreskin as well, which covers and protects their clitoris. It is alternatively referred to as the clitoral foreskin, clitoral prepuce, or clitoral hood.

Foreskin development

Development of the foreskin is incomplete in the newborn male child, and separation from the glans, making it retractable, does not usually occur until some time between 9 months and 3 years.

A young child will often have an excessive foreskin that totally covers the glans and form a narrowed tip in front of the glans. As the penis developes, the foreskin widens, but usually do not grow in length, so that in an adult the foreskin will cover the glans, but let the urinary opening be exposed when the penis is unerected, and exposes the glans fully or partially when erected.

In a young infant the foreskin is fixed to the skin of the penis head, but will loosen very early. However, a brim of adhesions will usually remain around at the base of the penile head towards puberty.

I a young boy the tip of the foreskin is also often very narrow so that it cannot be retracted. This condition, called physiological phimosis, will gradually resolve by itsef in most boys. The condition will be resolved in 92% of the boys by the age of 6 and by 94% by the teens. Only 1% will still have a non-retractable foreskin by the late adolescent ages.

Gentle stretching repeated daily for some time will often resolve the condition. Steroid cream will successfully help to resolve the problem in most of the cases.



Tanner's scale of pubertial maturation of boys

The Tanner staging is a measure of a boys maturation often used when assessing the developmental status of a boy. It contains much of the same deciption as above, but does not allow for the variation occuring between different healthy boys.

Nearly all boys have a mixture of maturity signs from different stages in the Tanner scale. Also the stage definitions contain a certain degree of racism, as it seems to be based upon an averidge picture of the development of boys of a certain social class of a caucasoid north European population.

Each stage in this scale does not correspond to an exact age span, but in the litterature there are common indication regarding at what age a boy should have reached a certain of the stages. Generally these indications seem to be biased by data from certain modern American communities where the maturity of children has become steadily earlier due to lifestyle and influence from the society itself. By using these indications as measure, boys that begin puberty after the age of 12,5 are regarded as abnormal. But in most of the World boys generally begin puberty after that age and often not before the age of 15.

The tanner scale was defined by the British Pediatrician James Tanner before World War II after many years of systematic measuring of the genital developments of British schoolboys. Tanner found that there was great varieties in the way boys develope from birth to the end of puberty. The scale is an avarage depiction of his findings. The scale can therefore not be used as an exact measure for the normality of a boy's development. Tanner himslef did not imply that the scale should be used that way. The scale also has some racial bias and may not be equally valid for other races than a north European caucasoid population.


Tanner's scale stage 1 - prepubertal stage

Pubic hair: No pubic hair, except fine vellus hair, which is the fine hair all children have in most part of the body. The hair on the scrotum is like that on the belly.

Penis: From birth to puberty - penis gradually increases in overall size with little change in general appearance

Scrotum: Scrotum gradually increases in overall size with little change in general appearance

Comments: Some boys have a fairely big scrotum from an early age, but the scrotum often do not grow proportionally as much as the rest of the body until puberty. Some boys have a very little or fairly large penis from an early age, but this is no indication about the penile size later in life.


Tanner's scale stage 2 - early puberty

Pubic hair: Slightly pigmented straight or slightly curled hair will begin to grow, mainly on either side of base of penis.

Penis: Penis increases only slightly, or not at all.

Scrotum: The testicles and the scrotum get larger. The scrotum gets somewhat more red in color, and the texture begins to change.


Tanner's scale stage 3 - mid puberty

Pubic hair: Darker, coarser curlier hair will spread sparsely over the symphysis pubis.

Penis: Penis grows more in length, but only lightly in width.

Scrotum: The scrotum grows larger, and hangs more down.

Prostate and testicular functions: During this stage the protate begins to produce secretions and the tesicles begin to produce sperm cell. The first ejaculation occurs.


Tanner's scale stage 4 - late puberty

Pubic hair: There will not be much development in pubic hair at this stage.

Penis: Penis enlarges further and takes even more the shape of an adult penis, especially will it get thicker, and the penis head will grow most in thickness.

Scrotum: The scrotum grows further and gets darker.


Tanner's scale stage 5 - full maturation

Pubic hair: The pubertal hair will grow thinker and form a distinkt inverse triangle. The hair will spread to medial thighs.

Penis: Adult in size and shape

Scrotum: Ample scrotum

Comment: Meny men do not develope a full triangle that spreads to the thighs, and it is dubitable how common this is among races of the global population.



About Puberty development in girls

Female puberty occurs as the internal reproductive organs are maturing. Merarche is the important pont when a teenage girl gets fertile. At that point the first menstruation accur. But the bubertial process with mental and physical maturing begins several months before that point and continues a long time thereafter.

The ovaries are stimulated by gonadotropins from anterior pituitary, the follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone. The point of the menarche varies between 10 and 16 years. Many sources sais between 10 and 14, but there are variations from country to country. However, there is a tendency that girls get fertile faster than boys.

The following things occur during the maturing of a girl:

- Uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries are maturing. As they mature they secrete steadily more hormones that stimulate the development also in other areas.

- The outer and inner genital lips and the groin area mature, but how this occur varies very much. In some girls the inner genital lips get bigger and often more folded. In other the outer lips have the greatest development. The intimate zones also gets more pigmented.

- The secretions from the vagina increases and becomes more acidic. This makes the girl more able for sexual acts and protects her inner zones from bacterial germs.

- The Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation starts

- The breasts develop and grow

- Hair growth around the genitals and armpits start and increase for a long time.

- Height growth and expansion of the pelvic bone is faster.

- The pubic bone increases often proportionally more than other structures. That will often have the effect that the genital lips will be hided i greater degree between the legs.

- The amount of subcutaneous fat increases, especially at the hips and breasts.

- During the first half of the puberty there is often a spurt in height growth. In the latter part the growth in height is usually slower and eventually stops when the growth zones in the bones close. This closing is regarded as the end of the puberty period.