2008 – Big Year For Under 19 Year Olds Cosmetic Surgeries
The pressure of looking good and having a nice body has grown overwhelming in today’s society. Men and women alike feel that they must look good to be successful. In many ways, this is true. In order to remain marketable in the job market or to get those promotions, looking good is essential. This ideal has leaked into the psych of teens, who are undergoing a rising number of cosmetic procedures.
The pressure of looking good is felt very keenly by teens. They are picked on at school because of a wide range of physical differences. It doesn’t take much of a difference for a bully to pick at. Many teens are awed by a celebrity idol and they dream of looking as beautiful, as that celebrity. The teen years have always been hard, but now there is a way to lighten some of that burden. Plastic surgery can help to give teens the confidence that they lack and allow them to be more accepted among their peers.
Natural News reported that the figures for 2008, from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, showed that surgeries performed on people under the age of 19 was very high. In fact 160,283 U.S. residents of that age underwent some form of cosmetic surgery. The surgeries ranged from breast augmentation and liposuction to hair removal and birthmark removal.
369 people of that age group actually had a controversial procedure called blepharoplasty. Blepharoplasty, also know as ‘Asian eye surgery,’ is a surgery where the eyes of people of Asian descent are widened. Gerald Pitman, a plastic surgeon in New York City, told USA Today, “The kids I see, their desire is almost uniformly to be normal, non-deviant. Kids don’t want to stand out in a negative way.”
The fact that cosmetic surgery has become very mainstream has made society much less judgmental about it. If a person is willing to undergo a procedure to make themselves look and feel better wouldn’t they do the same for their child? Donn Chatham, president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, told Natural News, “…parents may themselves even be undergoing cosmetic surgery and may feel for our children that it’s not such a stretch.”
Many parents and surgeons believe that since the technology exists and can benefit their children, then there is nothing wrong with using it. Most people have cosmetic surgery to give them confidence and allow them to live a happier, more full life. In this regard, people under the age of 19 are no different.
