I am sure I don't have to tell the people reading this blog how popular HGH treatment is for shorter children; parents don't want their children to end up short because of bullying in school and better opportunities in life and the workplace are given to taller people.
However, this treatment can be very costly if not covered by insurance; up to $50,000/year in some cases. After that treatment is over, the child will not have grown substantially, perhaps adding on an extra two or three inches to their initial projected height. The child will still be short as an adult and feel the pangs of discrimination.
When I was a child, I, of course, was extremely shorter than my peers. It had more to do with my constitutional short stature ( delayed growth) than lack of growth hormone production. At the age of twelve, my pediatrician decided to give me testosterone (male hormone) injections. I was about 4'2" at that age. These injections, although they sped up my growth, didn't add any height to my projected height of 5'4"; they were given once a month for a period of one year. When I turned fourteen, I stood about 5'2" or 5'3". The cost for these injections was a lot cheaper than growth hormone treatment, which I probably wouldn't have been given anyway because my growth hormone levels weren't low enough for them.
In the past years, I have said that I was given growth hormone, after my family told me they thought my shortness was due to lack of growth hormone. Now, I know differently. I wouldn't have been given testosterone injections if I had been given growth hormone at an earlier age.
So, growth hormone and male hormone are two different things when it comes to cost and treatment. Parents may opt for HGH treatment after the FDA approved the use of it for children who have idiopathic short stature (no medical reason) in 2003.. In 1980, growth hormone was only given to children who had a medical issue and then it was taken from cadavers, it wasn't synthetic. Now, it is more widely available but costly as I mentioned.
If your child is growing slower than his peers, you may want to consider testosterone treatment as an alternative. It is a lot less expensive and safer than growth hormone (side effects to HGH use are possible, however there has not been enough evidence yet to suggest that they are dangerous). True, HGH may add (and I stress MAY) on a couple of inches but testosterone will speed up your child's puberty and he will start growing rather rapidly. Keep in mind that what it will do is get him to his final height quicker.
For younger females who are behind their peers, perhaps estrogen treatment might be an alternative as well..
I would strongly encourage people to consider this as an option for their children, instead of growth hormone. Your child will grow rapidly once treatment begins and it will be cheaper. Have a look at this article:
https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/puberty/Pages/Delayed-Puberty.aspx
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