Cosmetic Surgery and Teenagers: Is it Helping?
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Cosmetic surgery, which was once limited to women who had children or reached an older age, is now a new trendy option for teenagers with self-image issues. News headlines were made worldwide when a 15 year old British girl chose to get breast implants on her sixteenth birthday. Greater than 50 percent of teenage respondents in anti-bullying study by Ditch the Label claims they would like to lose weight, 20 percent wants breast implants and 5 percent want Botox. The message is quite clear: young people are now thinking about invasive surgical procedures to change their appearances because of social appearance insecurities and bullying. With the popularity of image-based apps such as Instagram and the trend of taking “selfies� may also be contributing to bullying. Prior to smart phones, teens and anyone else could escape bullying at home. However, nowadays even when you are in your private bedroom checking your social pages, the bullying can continue, with apps like Snapchat, and text messaging.� Growing up in a world of social media, selfies, reality TV and airbrushed magazine photos makes the young adults pay more attention to their appearance than ever before. 2
A recent published study found more than half of surveyed teens who had been bullied about their appearance would like to change their appearance so they look better. Essentially, they want to get the thumbs up from their peers. However, according to a study published in Psychology Today, that followed more than 1,500 teenage girls for 13 years, found plastic surgery was not able to raise teens' self-esteem and the surveyed girls who got the surgery weren't happier in the end. The takeaway is that cosmetic surgery should not be viewed as a quick fix for a lack of self-confidence. The following are some of the most common surgical procedures performed on those 18 years of age and younger, according to ASAPS statistics: Otoplasty, Rhinoplasty, Breast Reduction, Correction of Breast Asymmetry and Gynecomastia
Nose Reshaping ( Rhinoplasty )
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Rhinoplasty is a nose surgery to reshape or repair the nose. The motivation for rhinoplasty may be to change the appearance of the nose, its function or both. The procedure is commonly done with an incision made inside the nostrils. With some patients, the cut is done from outside, near the base of the nose. If work is performed on the tip of the nose or if you need a cartilage graft this is the procedure to choose. Talk with a rhinoplasty surgeon about whether nose surgery is the right thing for you and what it can achieve.
Breast Augmentation
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Source: RinconPY - Labeled for reuse
Breast Augmentation is performed to • • •
Enhance and enhance the shape or contour of breasts Obtain breast symmetry Restore breast volume and firmness from pregnancy and/or breastfeeding, or because of weight loss
Otoplasty ( Ear Surgery ) 5
Source: University of Iowa Cosmetic Surgery - labeled for reuse
Otoplasty is performed to change the shape, position, or the ear’s proportion. It may be done to correct a defect in the ear structure from birth, or treat malformed ears caused by injury.
Breast Reduction (for males) 6
19 year-old teen before and after
Source: GynecomastiaUSA labeled for reuse
Gynecomastia or male breast reduction is performed on men with gynecomastia, or abnormal breast tissue development. It is recommended that teens wait until after puberty as their breasts may still be developing.
Liposuction 7
Liposuction removes excess fat that accumulate on the abdomen, flanks, and thighs. The legal age to have a liposuction in the U.S. is 18. However, exceptions are given for kids who require liposuction or other type of plastic surgery because of medical problems. A certificate from a doctor must be obtained in that situation.
American Society of Plastic Surgeons published data showing that number of cosmetic surgery done for the teens has actually come down progressively over the years, in contrast to the media reports suggesting otherwise. ASPS reported’: There were 220,077 procedures in 2002 8
representing 3.2% of the total; there were 178,041 procedures in 2006 representing 1.6% of the total; there were 131,877 procedures in 2011 representing 1.4% of the total; there were 130,502 procedures in 2012 representing 1.3% of the total.[4]
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