Could intermittent estrogen in teens stunt growth?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am wondering: if I was given estrogen pills as a teenager during the weeks when I lived with my father, and during the second weeks, when I lived with my mother, I would not receive any pills.

Would that be efficient in theory to stunt growth?
Would the levels be normalized after the week during which I did not take estrogen, or how does it work?

Kindly help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understood your concern.

To clarify your concern, the scenario you described, receiving estrogen tablets during only part of the week in your teenage years, would not be capable of affecting or stunting growth. For estrogen to impact height or close growth plates, there would need to be consistent, high-dose exposure over a long period, which is not achievable through intermittent or hidden dosing.

Any significant hormone exposure in adolescence would also have produced clear physical changes at the time, such as breast enlargement, delayed puberty, or reduced body hair. You have not described these features, and your current height of 190 centimetres strongly indicates that your growth and development were normal.

Therefore, there is no medical evidence or plausibility to suggest that your growth was interfered with in any way. If these thoughts continue to worry you, it may be helpful to discuss them with your general practitioner or therapist, as longstanding “what if” concerns can understandably cause anxiety.

However, medically, there is nothing to suggest that hormone exposure occurred or that your growth was affected.

I hope that this answers your query.

Kindly follow up if you have more doubts.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I read your query and understood your concern.

Thank you for your further question. Even in the hypothetical situation you describe, receiving estrogen for seven days, followed by seven days without it, repeated over many years. This would still not be capable of stunting growth or affecting height.

Hormonal effects on growth plates require continuous, stable, high-dose exposure, not intermittent spikes. If hormone levels rise briefly and then return to normal each week, the body does not experience the sustained exposure required to influence bone maturation or close growth plates.

In other words, levels would temporarily rise and then fall back to normal, which prevents any long-term effect on growth. Such a pattern would also have caused very obvious physical changes during adolescence, such as breast development, altered puberty, reduced body hair, and testicular changes. These would have been noticeable to you and to others.

As none of these occurred, there is no indication that any hormone exposure ever happened. Your height and development remain strong evidence that your growth was normal and unaffected. Please be reassured that this scenario is not medically plausible, even hypothetically.

I hope that this answers your query.

Kindly follow up if you have more doubts.

Thank you.