excessive hair?

[bill]

Dear doctor,

I have a 3 1/2 year old son. within the last 3 months, the hair on his arms and legs seems to be growing in darker and rather rapidly. I do not know how to guage "normal" hair growth in a child of this age, so my question is - how do I know if this is excessive or normal? It seems like he has more hair and it is darker then most children I've seen his age. Also, he sometimes get's really sweaty palms...just sitting still watchin TV or doing anything where he is not actually using his hands. The hair on his head seems to grow at a normal rate, he is of average size and weight...and is perfectly healthy according to the pediatrician. One other thing, I have also noticed that when he gets an erection (mostly in the morning after waking up) the skin just under the head of his penis seems more red then normal. He is circumsized. He does not show any signs of pubic hair, or abnormal facial hair, or hair anywhere else on his body. I want to be clear though...we're not talking gorilla hair here, but it just seemed to come in rather quickly and darker then what I expected. Do I need to be concerned about this??? Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated...thanks.

[HVM M.D. - EV]

Dear Bill -
     Thank you for your questions about your son.
     With regard to your concern about his body hair - probably what you are noticing is normal.  However, just to be sure, I would suggest your child's doctor take a look at him.  It is unlikely that anything unusual is occurring - especially since you have been careful to notice no other body changes.  But still - a brief appointment with your child's doctor can reassure you that all is well.
      With regard to his sweaty palms - many children and adults do that - and it, too, is not necessarily a sign of any particular problem.  But - when your child's doctor is checking his body hair - do mention the sweaty palms.  I am not aware of any association between the two - which probably reflects the benign nature of both.
     Finally - with regard to your son's early morning erections with redness by the head of the penis - this, too, sounds very normal for a little boy.
      I think that in the end, you do not need to be very concerned - but as mentioned above - an appointment for your son with his doctor to confirm everything is really all right would be my recommendation.   Good luck - Dr. EV

[Unknown]

i'm not a doctor but my cousin use to have this problam too. After many trips to the doc. about this, she finally found out that it was a just a slight hormoanal problam that was taken care of in a couple of weeks. There was a imblance of some sort.