Reference no: EM13942506
Should Teenagers Have Plastic Surgery? Teen Cosmetic Surgery
One of the most charged debates out there today concerning plastic surgery is whether or nit teens should be able to have it. The biggest problem with this debate is that legislation has yet to step in and say no way to the surgeons who perform these surgeries. Many people insist that the choice to have plastic surgery done should be made by adults only. Their number one reason is due to the fact that a teenager's body is still growing.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has actually set guidelines that their certified doctors must abide by on how to determine if a minor should be allowed to have a surgery completed. The doctor's decision must be based on the fact that the teenager's body must ready for such an alteration as well as their emotional mentality must be ready.
The only real legislation involved with teenage plastic surgery is from the FSA who has stated that no person who is under the age of 18 shall be allowed a breast augmentation. But that is the limit to the government's involvement. There are no laws to say that a teenager cannot have their ears, nose or chin worked on.
The truth is, that although the number of teenagers who undergo a plastic surgery has declined in recent years, there are still way too many procedures being done. One of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons representatives was even quoted as stating that is is most likely to do with too many doctors saying that the surgery can be done, but in reality it should not. It comes down to the all mighty dollar and how much money the doctor can safely rake in over any given time period.
A teenager's body is still undergoing development even after the age of 18, and for any teenager to decide that something is not correct, even if it has not finished its growing, maybe an incorrect way to do things. Too many teenagers have chosen plastic surgery and in most cases like anything else associated with teenage life it comes down to socialized patterns. A teen who has plastic surgery done to look like a movie star, is only doing it in order to fit into a crowd that they would not have fit into to begin with. This may also lead to further emotional scars as that teenager grows older and wonders if the operation was a good choice.
Teenagers are obsessed with how they look and how others perceive them. No matter how much they change, they will never be perfect in their own mind's eye. So what it really comes down to is that teenagers just may not be emotionally able to decide appropriately as to whether or not a procedure should take place. Many parents are also not helping the matter. The parents for some unknown reason will give the necessary consent as well as the cash for their minor child to undergo a procedure.