If I Take Testosterone, Will I Grow Taller? Facts and Next Steps

Taking testosterone will not make you taller if your growth plates have already closed, which happens for most people by their late teens. If you're an adolescent with open growth plates and a diagnosed hormone deficiency, carefully supervised testosterone therapy might help you reach a more normal final height. But for the vast majority of people asking this question today, exogenous testosterone won't add a single centimeter to your height, and taking it unsupervised carries real health risks.

Testosterone and height: it all comes down to growth plates

Your height is determined by your growth plates, which are zones of cartilage near the ends of your long bones (the femur, tibia, and others) that allow bones to lengthen during childhood and adolescence. Some people also wonder if wearing bigger shoes makes your feet grow, but your height is still controlled by growth plates, not footwear. These are called epiphyseal plates. Once they fully harden into bone, a process called epiphyseal closure, vertical growth is over. No hormone, supplement, or intervention reverses that. Testosterone's relationship with height is actually a double-edged one: during puberty, rising testosterone drives the growth spurt that can add several inches in a short period, but that same testosterone also accelerates the closure of growth plates. So testosterone is both a growth accelerator and, eventually, a growth stopper.

This is why the question 'if I take testosterone, will I grow taller?' doesn't have a one-size-fits-all answer. The honest answer depends almost entirely on two things: whether your growth plates are still open, and whether you have an underlying condition that has suppressed your natural testosterone below healthy levels.

Adolescence vs adulthood: when testosterone can (and can't) add height

During puberty, testosterone is one of the primary drivers of the adolescent growth spurt in males. Testosterone stimulates the production of growth hormone and IGF-1, both of which act on open growth plates to drive bone lengthening. In a typical male puberty, this spurt can account for 25 to 30 centimeters of height gain over two to three years. So in a physiological sense, yes, testosterone is involved in making adolescents taller. But that's very different from taking supplemental testosterone to get taller.

For adolescents who are in puberty and have naturally rising testosterone levels, their growth plates are responding to the whole hormonal environment of development. If you're a teenager with open growth plates and normal puberty, adding exogenous testosterone on top of that doesn't stack up to more height. In fact, giving excess androgens to a developing adolescent can accelerate growth plate fusion and actually reduce final adult height.

For adults, the situation is straightforward: epiphyseal closure is complete, typically by around age 18 in males and 16 in females, though this varies. Once those plates are closed, there is no mechanism by which testosterone, or any other hormone, can make your bones grow longer. Taking testosterone as an adult will not make you taller, period. If you're asking, “does testosterone make you grow taller,” the key answer is that once growth plates are closed, testosterone cannot lengthen bones.

Medical situations where testosterone might actually help

There are specific, narrow medical scenarios where testosterone therapy in younger patients can support more normal height outcomes. These all involve open growth plates and a clinical deficiency.

Delayed puberty in adolescent males

Boys with constitutional delay of puberty (CDP) or hypogonadism sometimes receive short courses of low-dose testosterone to kick-start pubertal development. The goal here isn't to 'get taller' by adding testosterone; it's to normalize development that is running significantly behind schedule. A JAMA Pediatrics study evaluated a brief course of testosterone enanthate given as four intramuscular injections of 200 mg at three-week intervals in 50 male patients with delayed puberty, measuring effects on pubertal advancement and final adult height. The treatment helped advance puberty, which is the primary aim. However, a separate study in Pediatric Research on boys with delayed puberty found that at the given testosterone dosage, treatment alleviated delayed-puberty issues but showed no significant effect on final height. That's an important finding: even in the medical setting most likely to benefit from testosterone therapy, the effect on final height is modest at best and often not statistically significant.

Hypogonadism with open growth plates

If an adolescent has hypogonadism (clinically low testosterone production) and hasn't yet reached epiphyseal closure, testosterone replacement therapy under medical supervision can help that person develop more normally, including achieving a closer-to-expected height. But this is treatment for a diagnosed deficiency, not height enhancement. The logic is: if your body isn't producing enough testosterone to drive normal puberty, replacement therapy can restore the growth trajectory you would have had. It doesn't add height on top of normal.

Why testosterone won't make most people taller (myths vs evidence)

There's a persistent idea online that testosterone is a kind of growth accelerant you can take to get taller, especially among teenagers who feel they're developing late or who want to speed up their growth spurt. Here's where the science firmly pushes back.

• Myth: Taking testosterone will trigger or extend a growth spurt. Reality: Exogenous testosterone accelerates growth plate fusion. In someone with open plates, it can actually shorten the window of growth, leading to a shorter final height than they would have reached naturally.
• Myth: More testosterone equals more height. Reality: The clinical evidence, including the Pediatric Research study above, shows no significant final height benefit even in boys with delayed puberty who are the most likely to theoretically benefit.
• Myth: Testosterone supplements (boosters) work the same way as prescribed testosterone. Reality: Over-the-counter testosterone boosters are not the same as pharmaceutical testosterone. Most have minimal evidence for meaningfully raising testosterone levels, and none have evidence for increasing height.
• Myth: Adults can still grow if they take testosterone. Reality: Once growth plates are fused, no amount of any hormone changes bone length. This is basic skeletal biology.
• Myth: Trans men who take testosterone will grow taller. Reality: Adults transitioning with testosterone therapy do not experience long bone growth. Adolescents who transition before epiphyseal closure may see some growth changes, but this is a complex, individualized medical situation managed by specialized clinicians.

How to actually figure out your remaining height potential

If you're genuinely trying to understand whether you have height growth left and what might influence it, there are concrete tools and steps for that, and none of them involve self-prescribing testosterone.

Bone age X-ray

A hand and wrist X-ray (sometimes called a skeletal age or bone age study) is the most direct way to assess whether your growth plates are still open. A radiologist compares your growth plate appearance to standard reference images. If your bone age is significantly younger than your chronological age, you likely have growth remaining. If the growth plates appear fused, growth is complete. This is the same test pediatric endocrinologists use when evaluating delayed puberty.

Growth chart tracking

If you've had regular checkups, your doctor likely has height measurements on a growth chart going back years. Plotting these over time tells you whether your growth has slowed or plateaued, which is a strong sign you're approaching or have reached final height. A sudden plateau in height velocity (the rate of growth per year) typically signals that epiphyseal closure is underway.

Pubertal stage assessment

Tanner staging, which describes the five stages of puberty from prepubertal to fully adult, gives a rough indicator of where you are in the growth process. Boys in Tanner stages 2 to 4 typically still have significant growth potential. By Tanner stage 5, most growth is complete.

Lab work

If there's concern about a hormonal issue affecting growth, a doctor can order relevant labs: serum testosterone, LH, FSH, IGF-1, and thyroid hormones are common starting points. These help identify whether a deficiency is actually present and whether intervention is warranted. Knowing what hormone drives which aspects of growth is useful here, and growth hormone and IGF-1 are actually the primary hormones responsible for long bone growth rather than testosterone directly.

Safety risks and when to see a doctor

This section matters. If you're considering taking testosterone, either from a gym source, online, or even asking a doctor for it specifically to grow taller, there are significant risks you should understand before doing anything.

The clearest signal to see a doctor: if you're a teenager who hasn't started puberty by age 14 (males) or 13 (females), or if puberty seems stalled, that warrants a proper evaluation by a pediatric endocrinologist. They can run the right tests, assess your bone age, and determine whether any medical intervention is actually appropriate. Self-prescribing testosterone based on wanting to be taller is not appropriate at any age and carries real risk of harm, including the opposite of what you want for height if you're still growing.

Evidence-based ways to actually support your growth potential

If you have growth remaining (open plates, still in puberty, younger than your mid-to-late teens), there are real levers you can pull that the evidence supports. These aren't magic, but they ensure your body has the best possible conditions to express your genetic height potential.

1. Sleep: Growth hormone is secreted in pulses, with the largest pulse occurring during deep sleep, typically within the first few hours of sleep onset. Consistently getting 8 to 10 hours of sleep per night as an adolescent is one of the most concrete things you can do to support GH secretion and growth.
2. Nutrition: Adequate protein (around 0.8 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight daily) and sufficient calories are foundational. Deficiencies in zinc, vitamin D, calcium, and iodine are all associated with stunted growth. If you're eating poorly or restrictively, that's a bigger barrier to height than any hormone.
3. Treat actual deficiencies: If you're deficient in vitamin D, zinc, or have an undiagnosed thyroid issue, treating that deficiency can genuinely restore growth trajectory. This is different from supplementing on top of normal levels, which typically doesn't add further benefit.
4. Physical activity: Weight-bearing exercise and regular activity support healthy bone density and overall development. There's no strong evidence that stretching or specific exercises add height, but staying active supports the hormonal environment (including natural GH release) that supports growth.
5. Avoid things that suppress growth: Chronic stress, smoking, excess alcohol, anabolic steroids, and severe caloric restriction all negatively affect growth in developing adolescents. Removing these barriers matters more than adding any supplement.
6. Genetics: The honest ceiling. About 60 to 80 percent of final adult height is determined by genetics. Knowing your family height history and using a mid-parental height calculation gives you the most realistic estimate of your target range.

It's worth noting that the question of what hormones most influence height goes beyond testosterone. Growth hormone and IGF-1 are the primary drivers of linear bone growth, and thyroid hormone also plays a critical enabling role. If you're wondering what hormone makes you grow, growth hormone and IGF-1 are the key hormones that drive long-bone lengthening. Testosterone's contribution is real during puberty, but it's one part of a complex hormonal orchestra rather than the main event.

Your practical next step based on where you are right now

Here's a simple decision pathway depending on your situation:

The bottom line is simple: testosterone is not a height-growth tool for most people, and taking it without a clear medical reason and clinical oversight is risky. This is also why the real question is whether testosterone can help only in specific medical cases, not by making your feet grow or adding extra height. If you're in that narrow window where it might matter, a doctor with the right diagnostics is the only path that makes sense. For everyone else, the real work of supporting height potential is much less dramatic than a hormone injection. It's sleep, food, and time.