What is adolescent medicine?
Adolescent medicine is the medical subspecialty responsible for the inpatient and outpatient care of patients who are adolescents (i.e. teen years). It's a relatively new and fast-growing paediatric subspecialty, as traditionally, there only really existed either paediatric or adult medicine, which categorised anyone over the age of 18 years of age as an adult, and thus, falling into the adult medicine category.
However, due to there existing a wide variety of medical issues that affect adolescents, there is a real need for specialist doctors in specific fields to be on hand to treat any given condition that specifically affects this age group of individuals.
What are the main conditions that fall under the adolescent medicine category?
There are, as previously mentioned, an extensive amount of adolescent-affecting medical conditions that require treatment from a specialist. The main ones include the following:
Acne
A very common skin condition, usually featuring blackhead and whitehead spots, which happens when hair follicles and pores become blocked by oil and dead skin cells.
ADHD
This is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects behaviour and begins in childhood. It can be classified into three types. These are inattentive (lack of attention), hyperactive-impulsive and combined, where the patient has symptoms of two types at the same time.
Other conditions that come under adolescent medicine include:
- delayed puberty
- early puberty
- menstrual disorders in girls
- unintended pregnancy
- eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa
- sexually transmitted diseases
- diabetes
- growth issues
What age group falls into the adolescent medicine subspecialty?
Individuals between the age 10 and 24 years old are the individuals that will be seen by a specialist in adolescent medicine.
Who specialises in adolescent medicine?
Adolescent medicine specialists are usually highly trained and skilled paediatricians who particularly enjoy working with and treating young children, teenagers, and young adults.