Virginal breast hypertrophy

Virginal breast hypertrophy (VBH) is not a medical name, but the more known name for "juvenile macromastia" and "juvenile gigantomastia". It causes excessive growth of the breasts during puberty and has a much higher frequency than the rare cases of breast hypertrophy in pregnancy.

VBH normally starts when puberty starts, soon after the girl's first menstrual period, but some doctors suggest that breast development (thelarche) occurs before menstrual onset (menarche). [cite web | url=http://www.obgyn.net/yw/yw.asp?page=/yw/puberty_QnA | title=Puberty Stages of Development | work=Ask the Expert FAQs | publisher=OBGYN.net | accessdate=2006-11-21]

The breast growth sometimes is not constant and comes in "growth spurts". At times, women may have minimal or no breast growth and then experience a growth spurt where the breasts grow very rapidly in a short space of time. These growth spurts can cause great physical discomfort, the main symptoms being red, itchy skin and sometimes a general ache in the breasts. But in puberty the breasts can also continuously grow at an even pace for the space of several years. This process can overdevelop a completely normal and healthy breast, sometimes to gigantic extents.

With VBH, enlargement of the nipples usually also occurs, and the nipples can grow to an enormous size. In very severe cases of VBH, hypertrophy of the clitoris can also occur.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8614890&dopt=Abstract Massive asymmetric virginal breast hypertrophy]
* [http://www.loc.gov/catdir/samples/wiley031/00066252.pdf U.S.A. Library of Congress - Healthy Breasts: A Primer]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=avOD0yFh024C&pg=PA102&dq=%22hypertrophy+of+the+breasts%22+abnormal Google books - The Breast: Its Anomalies, Its Diseases, and Their Treatment]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=sgzA3opK1D8C&pg=PA753&dq=hypertrophy+of+the+breast&sig=uLjMYxv0LHS674lElI-uab0DzzI#PPA754,M1 Google books - Rhinoplasty and Facial Plastic Surgery with a Supplement on Mammaplasty and Other Operations in ...]
* [http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1399262 A case of massive hypertrophy of the breasts]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=juwIAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA759&lpg=RA1-PA759&dq=durston+%2264+pounds%22&source=web&ots=4VLCkiLRnv&sig=vkTgPPvXejplStu_tOszOnnbHqQ#PRA1-PA760,M1 Google books - Anomalies and curiosities of medicine: Being an Encyclopedic Collection of Rare and ...]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=6MPso2LRx20C&pg=PA234&lpg=PA234&dq=%22diffuse+hypertrophy+of+the+breast%22&source=web&ots=IQwnM85R_7&sig=GE5SQJak2uQaNQdp2x4_xjaI8Ps#PPA235,M1 Google books - The International text-book of surgery v.2]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=xzBwgYe0yC8C&pg=RA13-PA693&dq=%22hypertrophy+of+the+breast%22+fig.#PRA13-PA694,M1 Google books - The Science and art of surgery v.1]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=4762tNIkDBcC&pg=PA147&dq=%22hypertrophy+of+the+breast%22+fig. Google books - Surgical diagnosis and treatment Index, 1922]