What is the hormone responsible for gigantism?

Gigantism is abnormal growth due to an excess of growth hormone (GH) during childhood.

What are the side effects of gigantism?

Gigantism Symptoms

• Abnormally tall stature.
• Abnormal growth of the face, hands and feet.
• Thickened facial features.
• Irregular menstrual cycle.
• Excessive perspiration with slight activity.
• Delayed puberty.
• Double vision.
• Deafness.

How does gigantism affect your life?

Living with gigantism When the condition is successfully treated, children with gigantism can have a normal life expectancy and avoid most of the complications caused by it. However, they may still have symptoms such as muscle weakness and restricted movement, and some may also have psychological problems.

Can growth hormone change your face?

Changes to the face may cause the brow bone and lower jaw to protrude, and the nose and lips to get larger. Acromegaly is a hormonal disorder that develops when your pituitary gland produces too much growth hormone during adulthood. When you have too much growth hormone, your bones increase in size.

What happens if you have too much growth hormone?

People can also have too much growth hormone. Usually the cause is a pituitary gland tumor, which is not cancer. Too much growth hormone can cause gigantism in children, where their bones and their body grow too much. In adults, it can cause acromegaly, which makes the hands, feet and face larger than normal.

What hormone makes you look younger?

The hormone estrogen is responsible for making skin look younger due to the hyaluronic acid it produces. Estrogen not only affects your skin but also your muscle mass, metabolism, and energy levels.

How does estrogen affect facial features?

Estrogen prevents the growth of facial bone, reduces the size of the nose and chin, leads to larger eyes and an increased thickness of the lips. The research also reveals that when a woman uses makeup, it covers up the clues to her fertility.

How can I reduce my growth hormone?

Drugs that reduce growth hormone production (somatostatin analogues). In the body, a brain hormone called somatostatin works against (inhibits) GH production. The drugs octreotide (Sandostatin) and lanreotide (Somatuline Depot) are man-made (synthetic) versions of somatostatin.

When does excessive production of growth hormone cause gigantism?

If excessive production of growth hormone starts in childhood before the growth plates of the bones (the area at the ends of bones from which bone growth occurs) have closed, the condition causes gigantism.

What are the signs and symptoms of gigantism?

The signs and symptoms of gigantism are usually due to the excessive amount of growth hormone production and sometimes due to the pressure that larger adenomas may have within or in the brain areas close to the pituitary gland. The excessive amount of growth hormone can lead to: tall stature, above the expected average for their age.

What causes acromegaly and what causes gigantism?

Acromegaly is also caused by excess growth hormone secretion however, this happens during adulthood rather than childhood. This means that height is normal as the growth plates have fused before the excess growth hormone secretion occurs. What causes gigantism?

Can a tumor on the pituitary gland cause gigantism?

A pituitary gland tumor is almost always the cause of gigantism. The pea-sized pituitary gland is located at the base of your brain. It makes hormones that control many functions in your body. Some tasks managed by the gland include: When a tumor grows on the pituitary gland, the gland makes far more growth hormone than the body needs.