Plastic surgery high on graduates’ gift lists

you get a request from your teenage graduate for a nose job, breast implant, liposuction, think twice, says Phoenix plastic surgeon Dr. Chasby Sacks.

Sacks agrees with Dr. Roxanne Guy, president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, that it’s becoming trendy for teens to seek plastic surgery these days, but he thinks most of those surgeries should wait.

Television shows depicting extreme makeovers, as well as society’s growing acceptance of plastic surgery in general, are fueling teens’ desires, according to Guy and other experts.

Sacks agrees.

“Photos we see in magazines, even teen magazines, to a certain extent may precipite the idea in young teenagers that they need to get cosmetic surgery in order to look like that,” Sacks said.

He said he supports cosmetic surgery for younger teens when medically necessary or when a particular feature causes the child tremendous stress — “if a particular teenager has, for example, protruding ears, for which they may have been teased a lot.”

But, he said, “If somebody, for example, at age 15, was looking for DD breasts, then I think that could be very inappropriate and would not be acceptable and certainly I would not perform that.”

If a teen wants work done as a gift, Sacks suggested parents think twice.

He said it’s a parents’ job to help children cope with insecurities, instead of letting them go under the knife.

“I would agree that the ideas may come from the media, but they should be put out of the head for a while by the parents,” Sacks said. “If it’s happening — if these very young teenagers are getting cosmetic surgery, then I think parents are to blame for not guiding them in the right direction.”

Sacks said teens can make their own mature decision about the issue later in life.