Teen Perspective: Understanding Anatomy

When your stomach is empty, its inner lining releases this feisty little chemical called ghrelin. When your stomach is growling, it’s this gremlin of a hormone that’s sending desperate messages that you need more food. Ghrelin makes you want... Full Answer

Chances are that the only time you’ve ever heard a spleen mentioned is when a TV doctor said someone needed one removed. But the spleen, a fundamentally important immune organ, is the Starbucks of your body--it’s where all the T cells get... Full Answer

The good news is that you don't have to suffer with allergies; you can take various over-the-counter allergy medicines, such as Claritin (loratadine), Allegra (fexophenadine), or Zyrtec (cetirizine), that keep your body from releasing histamines,... Full Answer

There’s an old myth that guys inherit baldness from their mother’s father--if he’s bald, you’re doomed (domed?). But the truth is that baldness comes from both parents. While it’s typically something that happens as you... Full Answer

A typical adult has about 5 liters (just over 5 quarts) of blood circulating in their body. Robert A. Wascher, MD, FACSAuthor, "A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race"   Full Answer

Loss of significant amount of weight at any age can make the breast lose volume and increase skin laxity. This can lead to "involutional atrophy" or loss of volume and decreased upper pole fullness of the breast. Patients over the age of 18 may be good... Full Answer

It is generally the standard of care in the United States Not to perform breast enhancement surgery on teenagers under the age of 18. The truly only exceptions include: congenital asymmetry, Polands syndrome, or post-traumatic or malignant surgical... Full Answer

Your top teeth are fixed to your skull, while your lower jaw has the flexibility to move front to back and side to side. If the top and bottom are misaligned, your upper teeth can’t adjust, so you end up wearing down your teeth. That inhibits... Full Answer

Our wisdom teeth were nature's version of a back-up system - giving us one last set of teeth that would come out by the age we would've destroyed our molars when we lived in the wild. Why are they called wisdom teeth? Hopefully, we would get them at the... Full Answer

Your nails grow from the area under your cuticle (called the matrix) the same way hair grows from follicles. As new cells grow, older cells become hard and compacted, basically becoming the keratin, and are eventually pushed out toward your fingertips.... Full Answer