- Hi, my name is Dr. Natasha Bhuyan.
I'm a family physician at One Medical.
And today, I'll be talking all about female puberty.
There is a lot of information out there
that you might not be taught
and I'm gonna give you the scoop.
(lighthearted guitar music)
When women get their first period,
they also start ovulating.
When women get our first period,
it's often associated with ovulation.
What ovulation is,
it's basically an egg being released from an ovary
and that means that you could get pregnant
if the egg gets fertilized.
Our first period is a sign that ovulation is starting
and we might be able to get pregnant.
For some people, you actually start ovulating
before you get your first period.
For other people, you might get your first period
and you might not be ovulating just yet
so it's not perfectly timed,
but it's pretty close.
(perplexing music) Dark or brown period blood
doesn't mean you're dying.
Period blood can be all different colors.
If it's dark or brown,
it often means it's been hanging out in your body
for a little bit longer
and it's coming in contact with oxidation
so it's changing color.
So if you've got dark period blood,
that is perfectly normal.
If you're clotting or have bright red blood,
that's normal too.
You start growing hair in places you've never had before.
Most of us know you go through puberty,
you'll get hair in your armpits and in your public region.
What a lot of people don't realize
is that hair starts sprouting up
in all different parts of your body
and it can be based on your genetics.
People will get hair on their toes.
They'll get hair below their belly button.
They'll get hair on their upper lip.
Some people even get hair on their back.
And of course, we get more hair on our arms and legs.
Any of those locations that you sprout up hair,
it's perfectly normal,
and it's nothing to be embarrassed about.
It's very common for people who are males
to be told that they're gonna get very hairy during puberty,
but for people who are females,
we just don't hear it as much.
But the reality is,
everybody gets very hairy during puberty.
It's totally normal.
(heavy bass music) You start smelling different
during puberty.
As we go through puberty, we actually end up sweating more
because our sweat glands are activated,
and it's not the sweat that smells.
It's the bacteria on our skin that breaks down the sweat.
That can release an odor.
So we tell people your body is gonna go through
a lot of changes and a lot of odor changes,
and the best thing you can do
is just keep up with your hygiene,
and try to stay dry when possible.
(lively electronic music) You start getting discharge.
You will start getting vaginal discharge
as you go through puberty
and vaginal discharge is usually perfectly normal.
We call it a physiologic discharge.
That is discharge that is usually pretty thin
and pretty clear.
It can even leave a stain on your underwear
and so when people see that dried discharge stain
on their underwear, they'll get alarmed.
It's totally normal.
It would actually be surprising if you ended the day
without a little bit of stain on your underwear.
We do tell people though,
if your discharge is really thick, white, yellow, or green,
or if your discharge has a fishy odor,
that can be an indication
that you might actually have a vaginal infection,
and you should see a healthcare provider
to get that checked out.
Discharge is a perfectly common and normal part
of being a cisgender female or a trans male.
We don't want you to be worried about it
and the discharge can actually change week to week
throughout the entire month.
(fast-paced bass music) It's normal
for your genital area to feel tender
and sensitive around your period.
Yes, the genital area can actually change during your period
because of hormonal fluctuations.
So, you might feel a little bit more sensitive.
You might feel a little bit more tender.
Some people want to have sex more.
Some people don't wanna have sex more.
It's perfectly common
to have fluctuations during your period,
and you should just treat your body with respect,
and respond to what your body is telling you.
(perplexing music) When you get breasts,
they hurt sometimes.
Breast development is part of puberty
and it can actually be sometimes a little painful.
When people start developing breasts,
they start as little buds,
and then the nipples might start to form.
The areolas starts to form.
You might even notice hair
is sprouting up around your areola.
All of that is normal.
People often tell me that when these changes are happening,
they will feel a lot of soreness in their breasts.
One way to combat this is to use a good-fitting bra.
Another way to combat it is you can always take ibuprofen,
but just know that it's perfectly normal,
and it won't last forever.
I can promise you that.
(enchanting electronic music) Some women get cramps.
There are some people that will get cramping
as a result of their periods.
So when we have periods,
our body is releasing prostaglandins
and it's telling the uterus to contract.
For some people, it can cause a cramping sensation
and other people, don't really feel it.
So, the entire range is normal.
Things get oily.
As we go through puberty, our sebaceous glands are activated
and so we'll notice that our hair
might be more oily than usual.
Our skin might be more oily than usual.
A lot of this is actually driven by your genetics
and so, the level of oiliness you have,
it often depends on your family history,
but it's all very normal,
and there's ways to control that shine if you want to,
but you also don't have to.
(bass thumbing beat) Your mood changes.
During puberty, we go through a lot of hormonal changes
that can impact our mood,
but the reality is during puberty,
we also go through a lot of social changes,
and that can impact our moods.
So, when we start to have things like oily skin, and acne,
and hair, a lot of people actually feel embarrassed,
and it can make them feel ashamed, or shy,
or they might feel like they are bullied at school.
We tell people you should not be ashamed of any changes
that your body goes through
because it's a healthy part of life.
(cheerful music) It is normal to start spotting
when you get your first period.
Spotting is when people might have a little bit
of breakthrough bleeding in between their periods.
Spotting can sometimes happen
if you're taking certain birth control methods,
but sometimes, spotting can just happen spontaneously.
The first three years that someone starts a period,
they have spotting pretty often,
and they have very irregular periods
that don't have a normal, rhythmic cadence.
That's perfectly normal.
We tell people after the first three years
of having your period,
it should start to normalize into a regular cycle,
and the spotting should decrease.
(perplexing music) Not every part of your body
develops at the same rate.
When we go through puberty,
it's not just like you magically turn a certain age,
and now you are a young adult.
The reality is that you might have breast changes,
but you might not have pubic hair changes.
Or you might have changes of acne and oily skin,
but you might not have changes of hair.
You might be growing taller,
but other parts of your body aren't changing.
Puberty is not a magical science.
Not everything is synced
so the changes that you go through during puberty
could happen at different stages and different times.
That's perfectly normal.
(upbeat rock music) If you're someone
who's going through puberty
or if you just got your first period,
you might have a lot of questions,
and your body might be going through so many changes
that you're not sure about.
I think it's really important empower yourself,
learn more information, and talk to a trusted adult,
or healthcare provider if you have any questions.
You're perfectly normal, and you're beautiful,
and you should love yourself.
(upbeat rock music)