Isoiza Emah

Critical Thinking Paper

Red Group
3/26/19
 Cosmetic Surgery on Teenagers

Teenage Americans should not be able to get cosmetic surgery to improve their appearance.

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons must prohibit people under the age of 18 from getting

cosmetic surgery for non-life threatening reasons because they often regret it later, the surgery

affects teenage growth, and is easily addictive. Cosmetic surgery is growing more common in these

times. With the massive use of social media, many teenagers feel that their bodies are not up to par

with the perfectly sculpted models on Instagram. Many teenagers go to great lengths to make

themselves look more “socially acceptable,” often paying no attention to the possible consequences

that may come with cosmetic surgery.

The views and values of adolescents change as they grow into adulthood, and many end up

regretting cosmetic surgery for different reasons. Many teenagers will sacrifice everything to get

cosmetic surgery because they think that their appearance is the most important thing in the world.

With their eyes set on the improvements they want to get from the surgery, they disregard the high

chance of the surgery going wrong. Many teenagers write about their experiences and regrets to

help warn others. Kate Dobinson wrote about her experience getting plastic surgery as a teenager

for the Telegraph. In her article “I Got Plastic Surgery and Instantly Regretted It,” she describes her

instant regret when she writes, “My nose looked like a fat little sausage, long swollen and pink. I

tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my stomach and the panic rising in my throat. I had imagined

that I would be transformed, my face entirely symmetrical and, at the risk of sounding shallow,

prettier. But, the voice in my head whispered, it looked worse.” Dobinson’s terrible experience

shows how cosmetic surgery can be a wrong decision that leads to lifelong regret. She had a vision
of how she would look and it was not the outcome she got. The article “Extreme Makeover:

plastic surgery can be seriously dangerous for teens, so why are so many girls going under the

knife?” also explains how quickly regret can come after having cosmetic surgery as a teenager.

The article points out that many teenagers end up not achieving the flawless look they want.

“A-listers are under tons of pressure to look flawless every single second, which might be why so

many of them resort to cosmetic procedures to alter their looks. But not everyone has loved the

results.” The author provides the perspective of Ashlee Simpson, another teenager who got a

rhinoplasty that went bad, who said “I don’t think I am more beautiful than I was [before]. I just

see the same old goofy girl I see every day.” The author's quote shows how Ashlee Simpson

immediately regrets the outcome of her surgery. Another teenager who got a lip injection also

hates the results, saying "I looked like a blowfish! I prayed every night to please let them go

down!” These girls’ experiences give an outlook on how easily these permanent changes can be

put on teenagers who do not know what they want.

The Extreme Makeover article also explains other reasons why teeangers’ views about their

bodies can change and provides advice from a cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Holmgren. “My advice as a

doctor is to wait,” says Dr. Holmgren. “Work on building your self-esteem by surrounding yourself

with positive role models.” The author concludes with more advice about all the ways teenagers

can change, writing “Build yourself up with a circle of positive friends, play sports and remind

yourself that you're not defined by your appearance. In a couple years, we bet the impulse to ‘fix’

yourself with surgery will pass. You might hit a growth spurt (hello, C cups), or whatever you once

hated could suddenly become the thing that makes you stand out in a good way. Or maybe you'll

just come to accept that your big nose/small boobs/whatever are just part of who you are. Trust us,
when that happens, it's totally amazing. Been there, loved that.” (Lyness) This shows how the need

to shape one’s teenage body will eventually fade away as teenagers grow into adulthood.

The second reason cosmetic surgery should not be allowed on people under the age of 18

is that surgery can be harmful to the growing body of a teenager. The most common effect on the

growing body is on a woman’s breast. For example, a typical late-blooming teenager may be

afraid that she does not have big enough breasts to keep up with society, and gets a breast implant

surgery. In an article for Market Watch, Kari Paul wrote about the increasing popularity of breast

implant surgery for teens and explained that if later a teenager’s breasts grow in under the implants,

it can cause pain and more surgery is needed. “Some 72% of patients see their breasts grow back

after surgery, leading to the need for repeated surgery, the study found. The doctors recommend

teens wait until after age 18 for any breast surgery. ” (Paul) Growing teenagers may have different

needs after their body grows, and the growth can mess up the previous surgery. Diana Zuckerman

also writes about the growing trend for teenagers to get implants and the risks. In her article

“Teenagers and Cosmetic Surgery” she writes, “Studies by implant manufacturers report that most

women have at least one serious complication within the first 3 years, including infection,

hematomas and seromas, capsular contracture (a sometimes painful hardening of the breasts), loss

of nipple sensation, and hypertrophic scarring. Since breast implants typically last 10 years, an

adolescent will require repeated surgeries throughout her lifetime.” She writes about the

consequences of getting surgery with a growing body and how it can affect the patient's life for

many years to come.

 The third reason why cosmetic surgery should not be permitted for teenagers is that plastic

surgery can become addicting, especially for a teenager. On the off chance that surgery is

successful and makes the teen feel more attractive, the teen could get hooked on trying other ways

to try to be flawless. They may want to get more and more surgeries even though they will never

feel completely beautiful. Jena Hillard wrote about this problem on the website Addiction Center.

She explains, “Many people that suffer from Body Dysmorphic Disorder turn to plastic surgery as

they believe that surgically altering their appearances will remedy their negative perceptions of self.

However, surgery rarely resolves symptoms of the disorder as it does not solve the underlying

psychological issues. Plastic surgery actually leaves the person off worse than before, as patients

with body dysmorphic disorder often possess unrealistic expectations about the outcomes and

suffer the pain and inconvenience of surgery without receiving the results they want. These people

will then continue to go under the knife and spend thousands of dollars on something that fails to

make them feel any better.” (Hillard) This point shows how plastic surgery, causes teens to want

more surgery to perfect their body, only to never be satisfied with the body they have. She also

writes about how cosmetic surgery can lead to opioid abuse. “Cosmetic procedures are often

debilitating and opioid painkillers are commonly prescribed for postoperative pain and discomfort.

Depending on the surgery, the wounds can take weeks or even months to heal, which means

prolonged use of highly addictive drugs. Those suffering from plastic surgery addiction are at

additional heightened risk for opioid abuse due to their poor image and low self-esteem. Thus,

opioid medications become both a physical and emotional pain reliever for the patient, prompting

the development of another addiction.” Hilliard’s article points out how cosmetic surgery can lead
to multiple addictions on young people, especially at an age when they already can get easily

addicted.

Some would argue that cosmetic surgery is needed to increase confidence for those who

lack it. This argument is not true because the majority of teens who get plastic surgery get more

anxious and depressed because the surgery is later seen as not enough to help their body. Temma

Ehrenfeld wrote an article in Psychology Today about whether or not plastic surgery helps

self-esteem. She talks about a study that tracks the long term effects on self-esteem. The study

found that “at least at younger ages, plastic surgery patients are a more troubled group—and the

surgery didn't help.” Ehrenfeld explains that the study is important because it followed more than

1,500 teenage girls for 13 years. At the beginning of the study, the researchers didn’t know which

or how many girls would have cosmetic surgery. In the end, it found that “the 78 girls who did

were more likely to be anxious or depressed and had a greater increase in those symptoms over the

period than non-patients.” Ehrenfeld also provides the perspective of another expert, Viren Swami,

an expert on body image and a psychologist at the University of Westminster, London. He states

“I think this is one of the best studies out there,” and also says “their findings seem quite clear:

those who chose to have cosmetic surgery tended to have a history of poorer mental health to begin

with, but having cosmetic surgery did not result in a positive outcome.” Temma Ehrenfeld’s article

shows that a majority of self-esteem problems about a teen’s appearance cannot be fixed with

surgery because it is a deeper problem, and cosmetic surgery is unnecessary.

In conclusion, too many teenagers nowadays are getting cosmetic surgery to improve their

looks and become more socially acceptable, but end up doing more harm than good. To prevent
this, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons needs to ban cosmetic surgery on teenagers for

non-life threatening reasons because the teenagers regret getting the surgeries later, it affects normal

growth, and is easily addicting.

Works Cited

Dobinson, Kate. “I Had a Nose Job and Regretted It.” The Telegraph, 13 Feb. 2017.
www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/had-nose-job-regretted/.

Ehrenfeld, Temma. “Plastic Surgery Doesn't Boost Self-Esteem.” Psychology Today, 12 Dec.
2012. www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/open-gently/201212/plastic-surgery-
doesnt-boost-self-esteem.

"Extreme makeover: plastic surgery can be seriously dangerous for teens, so why are so many girls
going under the knife?"
The Free Library, 1 Aug. 2015,
www.thefreelibrary.com/Extreme+makeover%3A+plastic+surgery+can+be+seriously+dange
rous+for...-a0424874753

Hilliard, Jena. “Plastic Surgery Addiction: An Unhealthy Obsession with Perfection.”

AddictionCenter, 21 Dec. 2018. www.addictioncenter.com/community/
plastic-surgery-addiction/.

Paul, Kari. “More than 200,000 teens had plastic surgery last year, and social media had a lot to
do with it.” Market Watch, 30 Sept. 2018. www.marketwatch.com/story/should-you-
let-your-teenager-get-plastic-surgery-2018-08-29.
“Teens and Plastic Surgery.” WebMD, 12 Feb. 2019. www.teens.webmd.com/teens-plastic-
surgery.
Zuckerman, Diana. “Teenagers and Cosmetic Surgery.” American Medical Association Journal
of Ethics, Vol. 7, No.3, Mar. 2005. www.journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/
teenagers-and-cosmetic-surgery/2005-03.

Annotated Bibliography

A. Carroll, Lucy. “Doctors Seek Ban on Cosmetic Surgery for under-18s.” The Sydney
Morning
Herald, 21 Jul. 2013.
www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/doctors-seek-ban-on-cosmetic-
surgery-for-under-18s-20130721-2qcp8.html.
Carroll Lucy writes about doctors in Sydney and why they are seeking a ban on plastic surgery for
young adults. This supports my thesis because she writes why physiscians in sydney are not
doing any good to teenagers by giving them the apportunity to get plastic surgery.

B. Dobinson, Kate. “I Had a Nose Job and Regretted It.” The Telegraph, 13 Feb. 2017.
www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/body/had-nose-job-regretted/.

Kate Dobinson writes about her story getting a nose job and regretting it almost imediately after
because she realized that there was nothing wrong with her nose in the first place and she only
made her apperance worse. This supports my theis becasue she is writing about her story making
the life changing decision as a teenager wich she regrets goin into adulthood.

C. Ehrenfeld, Temma. “Plastic Surgery Doesn't Boost Self-Esteem.” Psychology Today, 12

Dec.
2012. www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/open-gently/201212/plastic-surgery-
doesnt-boost-self-esteem.
Temma Ehrenfeld writes about the recent studies about the relationship between self esteem and
plastic surgery. She writes about how recent studies show that no one’s self-esteem gets better from
getting plastic surgery, but only makes it worse. This proves the counterclaim of “plastic surgery is
needed to boost the self-esteem of those who lack it.”
 D. "Extreme makeover: plastic surgery can be seriously dangerous for teens, so why are so
many girls going under the knife?"
The Free Library, 1 Aug. 2015,
www.thefreelibrary.com/Extreme+makeover%3A+plastic+surgery+can+be+seriously+dange
rous+for...-a0424874753

The Free Library writes about the reason why young girls everywhere are putting
themselves through the risk of getting plastic surgerys and all the different possible
outcomes of the surgery. This supports my thesis because it provides all the examples to
possible negatives to plastic surgery.

E. Hilliard, Jena. “Plastic Surgery Addiction: An Unhealthy Obsession with Perfection.”

AddictionCenter, 21 Dec. 2018. www.addictioncenter.com/community/
plastic-surgery-addiction/.
Jena Hilliard writes about the common addiction to plastic surgery and how it leads to abuse and
mental illness. This supports my thesis because it provides studies of how plastic surgery is very
serious and can ruin lives.

F.Paul, Kari. “More than 200,000 teens had plastic surgery last year, and social media had a lot to
do with it.” Market Watch, 30 Sept. 2018. www.marketwatch.com/story/should-you-
Let-your-teenager-get-plastic-surgery-2018-08-29.
Kari Paul writes about how plastic surgery can be affected by the growing body by giving
examples to how the price of surgery can increase and how the whole surgery would have to be
reverted. This supports my thesis because it provides statistics to how the teenage growing body
and plastic surgery do not go well together.

Zuckerman, Diana. “Teenagers and Cosmetic Surgery.” American Medical Association Journal
of Ethics, Vol. 7, No.3, Mar. 2005. www.journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/
teenagers-and-cosmetic-surgery/2005-03.
Diana Zuckerman writes about how when the breast finally grow in, They grow underneath the
implants, causing more and more surgeries needed. A new surgery every 10 years or so, taking a
toll on ones bank account. This supports my thesis because it shows how the growing body can
make the surgery much more complicated and affect one's whole life because they have to
continuously get surgery.