John gets a car for his 16th birthday, while Vanessa gets a nose job. Sound unrealistic? It’s not and it’s a growing trend among the youth of our country and abroad. Actually, the high holidays are when most of these procedures are done so be on the lookout for very refreshed and well rested teen with effervescent perkiness! Plastic surgery as birthday gifts and graduation presents; what used to be reserved for adults and cosmetic purposes, slowly creeped into the world of those under 18. It began with microdermabrasion and facial peels to help with severe acne, then breast augmentation in respect to reductions or leveling out unevenness, but now has turned into something teens do “just for fun.”
The problem with teens is in how casual they take plastic surgery and do not understand the risks, or are mature enough to handle change or even worse, severe complications. In regards to maturity, most teens want the perfect nose, perfect breasts or to lose the extra pounds simply because they see their Photoshopped idols in a magazine and want to be just like them. Teens see plastic surgery as a quick fix.
The most sought after plastic surgeries for teens are liposuction, breast augmentation and rhinoplasty. The issue young teenage girls don’t take into consideration when opting to have the liposuction or breast implants is the obstacles later in life should they settle down and have a family. Such issues are not being able to breast feed if you have implants and the weight gain when you are pregnant which post-pregnancy may result in dimpling of your skin from liposuction. Should you be a candidate for bariatric surgery in your late teens, getting pregnant means that all of the nutrition goes directly to the baby and little to the mother, which then requires close monitoring and possible health risks.
Education of the risks, both short and long term, as well as the emotional changes are things that need to be discussed at length with a teen wanting to go under the knife.
