Anyone who watches the news regularly may remember the young teenage boys who underwent several expensive plastic surgery procedures in order to look like Brad Pitt. Not only did they not resemble Brad Pitt, but their unnatural appearance and the severity of their desire to conform to a celebrity image were almost equally disturbing. Another surgical practice popular among teens that is not approved by almost all licensed surgeons is the reshaping of the ear to look like the ears of the character Spock, from the television show Star Trek, or more pointed to resemble an elf from the Lord of the Rings movies. These popular methods of teen adjustment have temporary subjective results, but will have a long-term, possibly negative, impact.
As adults, we may have augmented memories of what it was like to go through puberty, relegating it to a quick mostly forgotten period in which we changed from being children to teenagers or young adults. For most of us, it happened on schedule and passed fairly without incident – a deepening voice for men, the development of breasts for women, hair showing up in new places, the body thickening and taking a new shape. But some of the changes and developments that we take for granted do not happen on cue for some teens, or the way that they develop can present problems that seriously effect self-esteem or even physical function.
As a result, plastic surgery for teens, a somewhat controversial topic, is increasingly being performed with parental consent. Dallas plastic surgery physicians are seeing more young people between the ages of thirteen and nineteen years old presenting in their offices with requests for various remedies to perceived problems. The number one type of surgery Dallas teens are asking for is rhinoplasty, which changes the structure and shape of the nose. In second place was breast reduction for young men.
There are presently no regulations or guidelines on plastic surgery other than the usual standards of practice, so what can be performed and at what age is open to the discretion of all the parties involved – including the parents. Dallas plastic surgery practices therefore could linger on the peripheral edges of what is socially acceptable, but in most cases the treating physician is responsible enough to carefully consider age and development, as well as emotional factors, as risks when deciding whether or not to perform certain surgeries. Other surgeries that actually improve appearance and help to accommodate confidence issues for the teens appear to be harmless in their implementation, and many teens and their families are satisfied with the results.
