Tanner stages are a tool used by healthcare providers to evaluate development in puberty.
They detail five specific stages of physical change inpuberty, including genital, breast, and pubic hair development.
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What Are the Tanner Stages?
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Healthcare providers use the Tanner stages to document and describe the physical changes people undergo during puberty.
Development is individual, but the five-point Tanner stages help to record puberty changes and assess milestones of development.
Some delays can be because of another health condition, or a treatment likechemotherapyaffecting the ovaries.
Changes before age 8 are considered early puberty, sometimes calledprecocious puberty.
Let your healthcare provider know if you have questions about development or concerns about early or late puberty.
Medical Significance
Puberty is a part of normal human growth and development.
It is a time of rapid physical and emotional growth.
Tanner staging helps flag whether development is happening at an average or healthy rate.
The Tanner stages consist of five milestones for the various physical markers of puberty.
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