When I visited Dr. mhatres clinic; I found this precautionary review on her wall. Just thought I’d share. One of my obese cousins who’s only 15, but loaded and spoilt, got turned away by her and for good reason too....she did not want to perform cosmetic surgery on a minor.
TEENAGE SELF ESTEEM HIGHEST AT 18. According to recent research done by Adolescent Plastic Surgical Research Group, UK says that teenagers feel best about their self –esteem at the age of 18.
This indicates that many adolescents (11 to 18) who are very dissatisfied with their appearance will feel more satisfied a few years later, whether or not they undergo surgery. So; if you wait a little more; at least till you’re 18, you may not need surgery.
Commenting on the recent incident at her Juhu clinic in Mumbai, where Dr. Purnima returned a 13 year old girl who had come for a cosmetic surgery to be done, Dr. Purnima says, “One of the concerns about cosmetic surgery on adolescents is that their bodies are still maturing. In addition to development that may occur in the late teens, growth charts indicate that the average girl gains weight between the ages of 18 and 21, and that is likely to change her desire or need for breast augmentation as well as liposuction. So we need to check teens before they decide to go in for a cosmetic surgery.”
WHY IS THIS SO HARMFUL
1. The average onset of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), defined as “a preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect in appearance that leads to significant impairment in functioning, ” is 16 years of age. This takes a psychological toll on the patients; and they’re unable to wait.
2. The increasing lure of the teen beauty contests, which promise the teens, instant money, name and fame, TV shows, and the society’s increasing obsession with gook or rather perfect looks, all combined, is pushing the peer pressure among the teens across the world to go the cosmetic surgery route at an alarmingly early age.
3. Teenagers are often oblivious to the well-documented long-term health consequences of smoking, tanning, and other risky behaviors, and are likely to pay even less attention to the risks of cosmetic surgery, making informed consent difficult…they always tend to come without their parents.
4. In India, medical legal rules are not very clear about the minimum legal age of performing cosmetic surgery. There are a dime a dozen quacks who claim to perform this as well. Since the teen has gone alone; without parental consent; she cannot fight against the surgeon in the court of law as she’s a minor. That adds more complication to the case.
In such a scenario, as Dr. Purnima Mhatre maintains, that it is very important for the physicians to warn patients, or their parents, about the risks of performing cosmetic surgery on adolescent bodies that have not reached maturation, the operative complications and long-term physical effects of these surgeries and the psychological implications of surgery on developing body image, or the extent to which distorted body image common among adolescence may result in the pursuit of plastic surgery.