American Plastic Surgery for Teens
In America, certain conditions allow cosmetic plastic surgery on people under 18. The eminent Beverly Hills board-certified plastic surgeon Stuart Linder, M.D. (who blogs as Dr. Body) along with blogger Dr. Face (Robert Kotler, M.D., also a Beverly Hills board-certified cosmetic plastic surgeon) talk about the circumstances in which teens can undergo rejuvenation surgery in Beverly Hills, a place widely regarded as the world Mecca of plastic surgery.
According to the American Association of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) about 203,308 patients 18 and under had some type of cosmetic plastic surgery in America during 2009, ,the most current year for which statistics exist.
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Dr. Face (Dr. Kotler): I frequently see the members of a family from overseas who keep a house in California for business, educational and cultural reasons. They usually stay four to six months before returning home but it seems like, every year, another member of this household comes in a for a consultation because many of their children go to college here.
Dr. Body (Dr. Linder): For what procedure?
Dr. Face: It was one of their young cousins, actually, for the otoplasty procedure, commonly known as ear pinning. But in their home nation, people under 18 are not allowed to have any plastic surgery for cosmetic reasons.
Dr. Body: There are thousands of cruel jokes about children with big ears; I bet that kid has heard them all – in several languages, no less!
Dr. Face: That’s right. In America, because of the huge amount of teasing and ridiculing a child faces in school, we prefer for otoplasty to take place at five, before the child starts school. Otherwise, the child can feel singled out, rejected and starts to develop all type of complexes that can affect him an entire lifetime. About 9,700 such surgeries were done on the ears of American patients under 18 in 2009. The average cost of the plastic surgery in the U.S. is about $3000 for the surgeon’s fee.
Dr. Body: Same thing exists in procedures of the body. One of the most common is in teen boys who develop large, fleshy breasts during puberty due to a condition known as gynecomastia. Many pediatricians advise against surgery to reduce those breasts because the lad might have a growth spurt in the late teen years and outgrow the condition.
Dr. Face: I see the problem. While a youngster should be learning new ways to cope with girls, school, sports and develop a measure of confidence and self-worth, he is usually humiliated daily. Instead of becoming outgoing and social, he spends much of his precious teen years trying to hide his breasts and withdrawing from social contacts.
Dr. Body: Teen girls experience a similar situation when they have a common developmental condition known as tubular breasts. Normally, it’s a good idea not to perform breast augmentation until the patient is somewhere around 20 because growth spurts are very common.
Dr. Face: And what’s the situation with tubular breast deformity?
Dr. Body: Those breasts are a true deformity, will remain small and unbalanced and usually take on the shape of small sausages. They are often cruelly known as “Snoopy breasts” and are the focus of harsh teasing by other young girls.
Dr. Face: You would also see some breast reductions, too, among teen girls, would you not?
Dr. Body: Yes. Overlarge breasts on a teen girl – medically known as gigantomastia – not only results in negative attention from boys and men but is also painful. In some cases, each breast weighs between 10 and 20 pounds. Having extremely large breasts usually causes back pain. Due to the extra weight of bra straps on the shoulder bones of such patients, grooves in those bones are often created. American health insurance companies tend to allow breast reduction because the surgery prevents further complications and health problems down the road.
Dr. Face: In procedures of the face, we often do rhinoplasty for a young man at 17 years of age if our consultation turns up anything about breathing problems. Most often, young patients most interested in a nose job are in their final years of high school, headed for college and can use the extra lift of self confidence that goes along with an aesthetic nose.
Dr. Body: Other, common young person requests are to treat acne and scars. Dermabrasion, microdermabrasion or chemical peels are usually just the tickets for that.
Dr. Face: Over the years, I’ve learned to listen very carefully to young patients during pre-surgery consultations. I listen closely to who is not talking, as well. If a mom or dad is going on and on about what junior miss or the young man needs, I’m not so inclined to go ahead with the surgery. Bottom line in plastic surgery is responding to the wishes and desires of the patient, regardless of age. If a hump on junior’s nose bothers mom or dad more than junior himself, it’s usually a no-go.
Dr. Body: I also like to talk to young patients a lot before surgery to see if the young person fully understands the process and what goes on. I need to know he or she understands the surgery, the recovery and healing process and what the patient must do for himself.
Dr. Face: Right! When a teen says he or she wants to look like a favorite rock or movie star, the Red warning flags go up and I suggest another consultation in a year. Hopefully, another year of development will help them mature and bring their wishes down to earth.
Dr. Body: Teens are truly amazing!
Dr. Face: I will always remember mine as people who could not remember to feed the pets but nonetheless held a hundred cell phone numbers on the tips of their tongues.
Look at some of Dr. Face’s before and after pictures of young Otoplasty (ear surgery) patients.
Here of some Dr. Body’s before and after pictures of tubular breast deformity surgeries.
