Fw: Quest for the perfect body starts young ~ MSNBC

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From: " ilena rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Monday, July 30, 2001 6:15 PM

Subject: Quest for the perfect body starts young ~ MSNBC

> (posted by Myrl on alt.support.breast-implant)

>

> NOTE: There is a discussion board here:

> http://bbs.msnbc.com/bbs/msnbc-health/index.asp

>

> It would be great to have some of your comments there too ...

>

>

> http://www.msnbc.com/news/382325.asp#BODY

>

>

> Sommer Seidel talks with her doctor before undergoing breast enlargement

> surgery. She was 18 at the time.

>

> Quest for the perfect body

> starts young

>

> Thousands of teen girls

> are having cosmetic surgery

>

> NBC NEWS

>

> July 28 - Remember when all teen-agers asked for were the

> keys to the car or a few more minutes on the phone? How times have

changed.

> The question more and more parents are hearing these days from their teen

> daughters is: Can I have plastic surgery? And they're not just talking

> about fixing their noses. As NBC's Hoda Kotbe found when she first

reported

> this story, many want to dramatically reshape their bodies. But does

> plastic surgery for teens solve problems or create them?

>

>

> BRITNEY SPEARS. Gellar. Love Hewitt.

>

> You may not know who they are, but your daughters sure do. They are

> spending millions of dollars on their music and movies. But a lot of

> teen-age girls want something else from their teen idols: their bodies -

or

> ones that look like them.

>

> Teens are lining up in big numbers to go under the knife for cosmetic

> surgery - bigger breasts and liposuction, some even as young as 14. Last

> year, over 17,000 teens, from all over the country, had their faces and

> bodies sculpted.

>

> So, it seems, you don't have to be on " Beverly Hills, 90210 " to look like

> them. Just ask Sommer Seidel of New Braunfels, Texas 78130. We met her

> while she was considering getting breast implants.

>

> " It's just the fact that they never developed how I would have liked it, "

> Sommer said.

>

> " If you don't like part of your face, you can cover it up with makeup. If

> you don't like your nails, get them done. "

>

> Kotbe: " And if you don't like your breasts, you can make them bigger. "

>

> Sommer: " Exactly. "

>

> Ever since Sommer was 15 she wanted bigger breasts. After she graduated

> from high school she figured she'd waited long enough.

>

> " Physically, I'll look better and I think that'll make me feel better

about

> myself, " she said.

>

> She says she's tired of the teasing and being compared to her younger

> sisters whom she feels she will never measure up to, at least in one way.

>

> " They're beautiful girls. It's always a little funny, you have people walk

> by and they're like, 'Those are your younger sisters?' They all stress

> that, 'They're your younger sisters?' " she said.

>

> Kotbe: " I think people are going to look at you and say, she is beautiful,

> she has her act together, she's going to college, why would she want to

> change anything? "

>

> Sommer: " Why would you want to get a new car, you know? Because you like

> it. It'd be nice, these little changes. "

>

> If Sommer gets her way, the " little changes " will actually take her from

> barely a B-cup to a full C. But first she wanted the OK from her parents.

> So she approached her dad.

>

> Sommer: " I just said, 'Dad, I think I'm going to get breast implants.' "

>

> Kotbe: " Just like that? "

>

> Sommer: " Pretty much. "

>

> " It caught me off guard, yeah, I'd have to say that, " Sommer's father,

> , said.

>

> says it didn't come as a complete surprise though. He knew his

> daughter had been teased as a teen-ager.

>

> After doing some research on breast implants, made a decision that

may

> surprise some parents. He said " yes. "

>

> " I love her just the way she is now. She's doing this for herself I think

> because it's really gonna make her feel better about herself, and because

> of that, I'm OK with it, " said.

>

> Kotbe: " , I know a lot of parents probably feel this way: 18 is way

too

> young to get breast implants. Any parent who allows it has got be out of

> their mind. "

>

> : " I know a lot of people get their little baby's ears pierced when

> they are 6 months old. I don't think age is a factor in this. She's 18.

> She's an adult. She's out of high school. "

>

> So she didn't actually " need " her parents' permission, but she says she

> wouldn't have gone forward without it. So with her mom and dad's blessing,

> their financial help and the money that Sommer had been saving up from

> part-time jobs, she was planning to get the $6,500 breast-enlargement

> surgery.

>

> Across the country on Long Island, Dana Lieberman, 17 at the time we first

> met her, was taking a close look at her body and considering liposuction.

> The high school cheerleader with lots of friends was tired of being bigger

> than her classmates.

>

> Dana: " I'm unhappy ... It's not so much my weight. It's just where it all

> goes to. It all goes to one area. "

>

> Kotbe: " Your stomach? "

>

> Dana: " Yes ... and I don't like that. I don't feel comfortable with it. "

>

> Like Sommer, Dana says she had the same experience of being teased and she

> also doesn't like the way she looks.

>

> And she says it's not a matter of dieting and exercise.

>

> " I exercise a lot. I go to kick-boxing. Once a week I try, " she said.

>

> But the extra weight around her middle sticks with her.

>

> " I'm the kind of person who [needs] to see results very easily, " she said.

>

> So Dana wanted the fastest way to get rid of that middle. She was tired of

> wearing baggy clothes to mask her stomach, tired of not tucking in shirts.

> So at 17 years old she decided she she wanted liposuction.

>

> " I don't think I'm too young. I just want to do it for myself; it'll make

> me a lot happier, " she said.

>

> She read about the surgery in magazines and then she went to her mom,

> Gayle. She needed parental permission to get anything done because she was

> so young.

>

> Gayle: " Well, she begged, and I thought about it. "

>

> Kotbe: " But don't you think parents have to make the tough decisions -

have

> to say 'no.' "

>

> Gayle: " Yes, and for certain things I would, but my gut instinct is

telling

> me let her do this. I have a feeling it will make her happy. "

>

> Kotbe: " What about parents who say kids shouldn't be having this kind of

> surgery? "

>

> Gayle: " Maybe I'm crazy, but I want Dana to be happy, and if this is what

> it takes, go for it. "

>

> Gayle thought it was such a good idea that she even worked overtime so

they

> could afford to pay the $6,000 surgery bill.

>

> Dr. Sklar will be doing the liposuction. He says his business in

> liposuction has tripled in the past few years, though when it comes to

> teens he is especially careful. He says he turns away nine out of 10

teens.

>

> But Dana is a good candidate because of her body type and the problem area

> that exercise hasn't corrected, he says, adding that he will take out

> nearly four liters of fat.

>

> He says Dana may only be 17 years old but she is mature for her age both

> mentally and physically, and that this is an appropriate age to do it.

>

> Kotbe: " What about the people who say this is just nuts. These are kids

who

> can't vote, can't drink, they shouldn't be getting cosmetic surgery? "

>

> Sklar: " For some of those kids they may be right. But if you're picking

the

> right person, then I don't think they're giving them enough credit. "

>

> Kotbe: " You don't know what's baby fat, what's not, what's going to burn

> off tomorrow, what's going to still be here for the next 20 years, so why

> not wait? "

>

> Sklar: " That's why we wait till after puberty. And [at] 15, 16, if you

have

> a certain disproportionate body type, that's already very evident. "

>

> Dana knows it will take a while to get back on her feet when the surgery

is

> over, but she is thinking way beyond that.

>

> Kotbe: " What would you wear after the surgery that you would never wear

> today? "

>

> Dana: " Jeans and just, like, a tank top, like, tucked in with a belt. "

>

> Back in Texas, 18-year-old Sommer is also ready for surgery.

>

> Dr. lin Rose will perform the operation. It will take just over an

> hour and Sommer will be under general anesthesia.

>

> Kotbe: " Why? Why do breast implants for 18-year-olds? Why do it at all? "

>

> Rose: " To help the patient. "

>

> Kotbe: " How do you think it's helping the patient? "

>

> Rose: " It's enhancing their self-esteem, enhancing their sense of

> femininity, kind of rescuing them sometimes from a very distraught outlook

> that they might have about themselves. "

>

> Kotbe: " I got to tell you, when I talk to people about 18-year-olds

getting

> breast implants, they are aghast. "

>

> Rose: " Right. "

>

> Kotbe: " How could this happen? How could a doctor do this? "

>

> Rose: " Right. "

>

> Kotbe: " And you say? "

>

> Rose: " Well, my response to that is that the patient is well-selected - a

> good candidate of appropriate maturity. "

>

> Kotbe: " And do you still see that there may be some parent watching this

> and shaking their head thinking, 'How could he? How could he do this

> surgery? How could he?' "

>

> Rose: " Oh, not really. We know the type of care we are delivering to the

> patients and we treat the patients quite carefully. "

>

> Kotbe: " How young is too young to get breast implants? "

>

> Rose: " I would think 17. You know, really, it's more a function of full

> development and psychological stability. "

>

> Rose says only 3 to 4 percent of his breast implant patients are teens. He

> screens each one very carefully and turns away those he thinks are not

> appropriate candidates.

>

> But until the day of the surgery, Sommer never had a face-to-face meeting

> with Rose.

>

> Kotbe: " Well, when it came to Sommer, there was just a phone call? "

>

> Rose: " Correct. Yes. "

>

> Kotbe: " There wasn't a long consultation? "

>

> Rose: " Well ... we spoke on the phone several times in advance of her

> surgery. And I asked her very specifically what is your cup size, what do

> you expect out of the operation? "

>

> Kotbe: " You're not a psychiatrist, are not a psychologist, you're not

> someone whose job it is to get into someone's head. How are you making

> these evaluations? "

>

> Rose: " Well, Hoda, it really depends on the experience of the surgeon and

> after having evaluated maybe 5,000 or so breast implant pre-operative

> patients, we really have a good sense for who is and who is not a

> satisfactory candidate for the procedure. "

>

> But Sommer says she had her mind made up long before she ever went to the

> doctor. Now, before the surgery, she has calm nerves, no second thoughts

> and no backing away. And Dana, too, is totally confident about her choice.

>

> The American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic

> Surgeons have no formal position on teens and cosmetic surgery, but the

> plastic surgeons group says parents should " appraise the teen's physical

> and emotional maturity " and suggests a " careful evaluation under the

> guidance of a board-certified plastic surgeon. "

>

> But some doctor's feel much more strongly.

>

> " I think both of these young ladies were too young to have their

surgeries.

> And I wouldn't operate on either one of them, " plastic surgeon Dr. Tom

> Geraghty said.

>

> Geraghty says girls like Dana and Sommer should wait until their 20s to

> consider plastic surgery because he says their bodies may still be

changing.

>

> " It is not immoral but it borderlines on it. I think you're taking care of

> kids, and you are doing a mature operation on potentially immature

people, "

> he said.

>

> Although scientists who have studied breast implants don't believe they

> pose any significant medical risks, in any kind of surgery there is the

> possibility of complications which, he says, teens may not understand.

>

>

> Cheek lift a new cosmetic option

>

> And Geraghty believes you need several face-to-face meetings with a

patient

> - not just phone conversations - before doing this kind of plastic surgery

> on teens.

>

> " I think you have to see them in the flesh. And you have to see the

twinkle

> in their eye, you have to quiz them, " he said. " In cosmetic surgery we're

> talking about surgery invading a person's body, operating on a patient

with

> a potential risk and potential complication. And that reason to have that

> perfect little body in a teen-age setting isn't a good enough reason for

me

> to take that risk. "

>

> But Dana, who wasn't worried about the risks at all, was happy with the

> results two months after surgery.

>

> " This is called a tube top and I never tried it on before my surgery. I

> don't think I would have [worn] it, my stomach was too big, " Dana said as

> she modeled new, more form-fitting clothes.

>

> " You know, they always say money can't buy happiness, but this definitely

> did buy me happiness, " she said.

>

> Dana's mother says the real change in her daughter is not in her body at

all.

>

> " Her smile, I haven't seen that in a long time. She glows. She grins from

> ear to ear, " Gayle said.

>

> Back in Texas, Sommer is out of surgery. After the procedure, she was

> groggy and bandaged.

>

>

>

>

>