Mother-Daughter Plastic Surgery: Would You Do It?

Like mother, like daughter?

Sometimes, getting a nose job or liposuction is a family affair, according to a recent story on MSNBC.com.

Mother-daughter “cosmetic duets” — such as the respective face lift and nose job Christie Brinkley and daughter Alexa Ray Joel reportedly had last month — are apparently gaining in popularity, although MSNBC.com cited no statistics as proof of the trend.

Saddle bags, small breasts, and big noses are inherited traits, and if mom has an issue with her body, it’s likely her daughter will too.

“I’ll hear, ‘Everybody in my family has big arms, everybody develops puffs under their eyes,’” said New York plastic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Yager. “I had a mother and daughter come in on the same day where mom got a neck lift and daughter got liposuction of her neck.”

The problem is when a mother’s dissatisfaction with her own body causes issues with her daughter’s self-esteem. In some cases, a competitive relationship prompts a daughter or mother to get plastic surgery.

“I had a mom in her 40s bring in her 20-year-old daughter and was saying, ‘My daughter wants lipo and her leg veins treated’ and the daughter didn’t look like she wanted any of that. That was an unhealthy dynamic and I declined to treat her,” said Dr. Hema Sundaram, a Washington, D.C., dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon.

In a culture obsessed with appearances (especially for women), young girls and teens often feel pressure to change themselves to conform.

Sabrina Weiss focused her teenage self-hatred on her nose. As a high school graduation present, her parents bought her a nose job. Now an adult, Weiss regrets her adolescent decision.

“Looking back, if anyone had questioned what my reasons for doing this, they would’ve seen it was irrational and a fantasy that having this surgery was going to somehow transform my entire life,” Weiss told CNN.

I thought parents were supposed to teach their children to embrace their appearance — flaws and all.

What do you think? Is this trend taking mother-daughter bonding too far? Would you let your kid get plastic surgery? Would you join them?