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Child Has Thin Legs, Sunken Chest, Lack Of Muscle Tone, Less Facial Hair. Concerned About Development
Question: hi my 17 yr old son has extremely thin legs, arms and most notably his chest is sunken in. Lack of muscle tone. Not much facial hair either. I am concerned about his developement, as is he? No health problems. Somewhere Between 10 and 14 he had allergies to cats and trees and grass and he was prescribed a medication (We can produce exact age and drug from our Dr. if needed) but he has since grown out of it. Otherwise no other health problems.
Dear Mr ...
There are 3 crucial issues here:
1. child seems to be undernourished, so i would like to have his weight height and head circumference profile for assessment about it.
2. there seems to be a chest deformity as you say it is sunken in... it may be seen due to some child hood issues like rickets, heart issues and asthma or chronic lung diseases.. but its to immature to comment without having a look at his chest pics.
3. secondary sexual characteristics like say pubic hairs, erection frequency, testes size, mustache etc need to be looked for as per the sexual maturity score. refer a link of my website http://learningbasics.blogspot.in/2007/04/tanner-staging-sexual-maturity-score.html.
The allergies unless with severe asthma or chronic diarrhea wont cause growth failure .
please detail back to me with above.
Thank you for your patience but an haphazard answer wont be right when multiple issues are involved.
There are 3 crucial issues here:
1. child seems to be undernourished, so i would like to have his weight height and head circumference profile for assessment about it.
2. there seems to be a chest deformity as you say it is sunken in... it may be seen due to some child hood issues like rickets, heart issues and asthma or chronic lung diseases.. but its to immature to comment without having a look at his chest pics.
3. secondary sexual characteristics like say pubic hairs, erection frequency, testes size, mustache etc need to be looked for as per the sexual maturity score. refer a link of my website http://learningbasics.blogspot.in/2007/04/tanner-staging-sexual-maturity-score.html.
The allergies unless with severe asthma or chronic diarrhea wont cause growth failure .
please detail back to me with above.
Thank you for your patience but an haphazard answer wont be right when multiple issues are involved.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank you for the response.
1. He is 5 ft 7 in and weighs 118 lbs. I do not have head circumference.
2. I think I misled you! His chest is not so much sunken in as it is not pronounced as you would expect a 17 year old to be. Besides asthma (fairly severe) as a pre adolescent he never had other problems that were detected and brought to our attention. He had yearly exams by our pediatrician and all was well.
His last physical was 11/2011 and Dr. said nothing.
3. Sexual Characteristics are not easily discussed. Obviously at his age it is a tough discussion and I obviously can not examine him. But he does not have a lot of facial hair.
He is now a week in college in his freshman year, and he is very self consciuos of his appearance. Although food on table every night when he lived home, he had very bad eating habits and very picky eater.
We dont know where else to turn can you be of assistance??? Thank You
1. He is 5 ft 7 in and weighs 118 lbs. I do not have head circumference.
2. I think I misled you! His chest is not so much sunken in as it is not pronounced as you would expect a 17 year old to be. Besides asthma (fairly severe) as a pre adolescent he never had other problems that were detected and brought to our attention. He had yearly exams by our pediatrician and all was well.
His last physical was 11/2011 and Dr. said nothing.
3. Sexual Characteristics are not easily discussed. Obviously at his age it is a tough discussion and I obviously can not examine him. But he does not have a lot of facial hair.
He is now a week in college in his freshman year, and he is very self consciuos of his appearance. Although food on table every night when he lived home, he had very bad eating habits and very picky eater.
We dont know where else to turn can you be of assistance??? Thank You
Thanks for your inputs.
I assure you that things are not worrysome yet. His weight and height are good for his age, meaning he has no growth failure. he may have growing mustache that may be just enough for his secondary sexual characteristics.Thats normal for his age. If his last year pediatric check was done, and had they examined genitals and found normal; nothing to worry much.
I understand your concerns as a parent and also inability to discuss tricky issues. You need to build his confidence level that may bring up the chest expansion that he may lave lost with severe asthma.. this should not be a problem .. he should join gym or swimming too to improve his stature and personality.
teenagers are often self conscious especially when they deal with opposite sex, thats natural and good.
you may make the pediatrician aware of your concerns prior to next school health check , to have all doubts cleared.
I would call all this as normal at present, even though and as some areas remain unexamined, undiscussed and uncertain.
Do get back to me if you have any further doubts; i can surely be of help to make u understand the issues.
Thanks.
I assure you that things are not worrysome yet. His weight and height are good for his age, meaning he has no growth failure. he may have growing mustache that may be just enough for his secondary sexual characteristics.Thats normal for his age. If his last year pediatric check was done, and had they examined genitals and found normal; nothing to worry much.
I understand your concerns as a parent and also inability to discuss tricky issues. You need to build his confidence level that may bring up the chest expansion that he may lave lost with severe asthma.. this should not be a problem .. he should join gym or swimming too to improve his stature and personality.
teenagers are often self conscious especially when they deal with opposite sex, thats natural and good.
you may make the pediatrician aware of your concerns prior to next school health check , to have all doubts cleared.
I would call all this as normal at present, even though and as some areas remain unexamined, undiscussed and uncertain.
Do get back to me if you have any further doubts; i can surely be of help to make u understand the issues.
Thanks.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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