Should teens be allowed to have cosmetic surgery?
A rather large part of today’s youth is insecure about themselves concerning various matters. Some teens feel anxious because they are too fat according to friends, while others feel bad about themselves because they have quite a big nose or have flap ears. In a world where people feel the need to fit in more than ever, cosmetic surgery plays a bigger role than it has ever done. More and more people want to have their body ‘fixed’. And this does not only apply to adults, teenagers often feel pressure to be perfect too. With social media constantly flooding them with skinny models and photoshopped people, the feeling of pressure is not surprising at all. Because of technology, much more is possible through cosmetic surgery, but it can still go wrong in many ways. This raises an ethical question. Should teens be allowed to change their body through cosmetic surgery?
There are various perspectives that can be taken into consideration when we discuss this ethical question. While some people want plastic surgery because they are insecure about how they appear in public, others really need plastic surgery due to medical reasons. In both these cases it is important to ask oneself: “should plastic surgery be an option concerning this specific problem, and what would I want to do if I were this person?”. Often people have a negative opinion about a certain statement, but when they suddenly appear to be in a similar situation, that opinion changes rather quickly. That is why you should not make up your mind without deepening into the various perspectives first. In this essay I will not only asses the arguments that teenagers have, but also the arguments given by doctors and the arguments given by the parents of teenagers. Because after all, teenagers are not the only people that are responsible for deciding to have surgery or not, doctors and parents play a huge role in this decision as well.
“Why would cosmetic surgery be necessary for teenagers?”, you may ask yourself. There is a big chance that the conclusion that you draw for yourself is not in favor of the teenagers, but often you forget to realize the reasons why teenagers really want plastic surgery. In a great amount of cases, it is not their goal to look beautiful after the surgery, but to live an easier life without having to think about their appearance all the time. While adversaries often think teens only want cosmetic surgery to live up to the beauty standards that are set nowadays.
One of the main arguments that the people in favor of plastic surgery for teenagers have, is that in quite a few cases it is indeed necessary to have cosmetic surgery for medical reasons. When there is some factor that is clearly affecting the physical, emotional or psychological wellbeing of a child or teen, then cosmetic surgery should definitely be an option for the patient in question. Asymmetry of breasts or gigantomastia are examples of medical problems which could be solved by performing plastic surgery. Problems like these could greatly lower the living conditions of the patient who is struggling with them. When this patient is an adult, no one thinks it is a problem to have plastic surgery, but when this patient is a teenager, suddenly people start to question whether it is really useful to have the operation. The difference in reaction between these two cases shows how unfair teenagers are treated when it comes to having plastic surgery. In principle, teens should have the same rights as adults have, so why should this not be the case when we are referring to plastic surgery? This is quite an interesting question, because teenagers who struggle with physical or mental problems cannot have these problems fixed because they are underage. So this is an important argument to consider when arguing about allowing teenagers to have plastic surgery.
Another example of medical reasons for plastic surgery is breast reduction. Although a breast reduction surgery is considered to be a cosmetic operation, teens who have their breast reduced are not undergoing this procedure for improving appearance. Large breasts are often considered to be attractive and most teenagers have no problem with having large breast. Most teenagers would rather have big breasts. Usually the only reason for teens to reduce their breast size, is because huge breasts are not nearly convenient, and can be a serious hurdle in life. Large breasts can have a negative impact on physical and mental health in adult women, so this effect will probably be enhanced in teenagers. Then why can teenagers not have these problems fixed while adult people can?
There are psychological studies which have reported a reduced psychological burden in teens undergoing cosmetic surgery. Especially for teens nowadays, it is really important how they appear in public, and social pressure is bigger than ever. Teens have the feeling that they are not good enough, and social media intensifies this feeling for them. Teenagers are constantly pressured by the perfect images that are on social media sites like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Even though these pictures are photo shopped most of the times, the ‘perfect’ pictures make teenagers very self-aware and they often start to question themselves. When you take these factors into account, it is not weird that popular teens start to bully someone because this certain person does not live up to the beauty expectations. This bullied teen can get anxious and maybe even develop a depression. In order to fit in, plastic surgery could be the answer. Teens who had a nose or ear surgery due to bullying, felt great relief when people stopped bullying them because they looked weird. This relief could be of such significant impact on a teenager, that he or she does not feel anxious anymore and this relief could sometimes even cure depression. This shows that not only physical, but also mental issues could be fixed by plastic surgery if teenagers would have the chance to have surgery.
A lot of people argue whether it is really necessary to allow teenagers to have plastic surgery, because they are not sure if the teenagers are old enough to make important decisions like this. Another reason why people are skeptical about teens having plastic surgery, is that the teenagers do not think about potential consequences that plastic surgery can have. According to Doctor Gabrielle Caswell, president of The Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia, ‘Children should not receive cosmetic or surgical procedures of any kind unless there are compelling medical or psychological reasons to do so,’ . When a teenager decides to have plastic surgery, there is no going back. Caswell makes a serious point, because when there is no medical or psychological reason, it would actually be useless to have plastic surgery. In cases where a teenager does not have a specific reason to have cosmetic surgery, it usually is to live up to beauty expectations. This results in teenagers having cosmetic surgery just to live up to the expectations of others and not to live up to their own expectations. This would not make teens any happier, and maybe they would even get less happy about themselves. When you would just allow teens to have plastic surgery, teens
Parents usually have to pay the surgery for their teenage daughter or son and it is not that crazy when they refuse their children to have plastic surgery. Operations like plastic surgery can become really expensive, and usually it does not stop at one operation. It is not unusual to have additional operations which result in additional expenses for the parents. Some parents simply do not have the money, while other parents simply do not want to pay for ‘useless’ operations like these. But is it fair of the parents to refuse plastic surgery when teenagers pay the operations themselves? I think the parents have a decent point, because they are still responsible for their children. When you think about all the possible dangerous consequences a surgery like this can have, it is not weird for a parent to be scared and refuse their teen to have cosmetic surgery. However, if the teenagers has a medical or psychological reason to undergo plastic surgery, they should not immediately say no. They first need to have a serious conversation with their child, and take all the arguments into consideration.
Another argument that people against plastic surgery for teenagers have, is about the extent of a potential operation. Although some people think plastic surgery is an easy operation, this does not have to be true at all. Plastic surgery can be a really dramatic event, especially because it does not only bring physical problems. Surgeries like this can also bring mental problems like depression. Doctors have at least three reasons why plastic surgery performed on underage people is not a good idea. Teenagers and parents often do not realize the risks that plastic surgery entails. They think that because of technology, there is not much that can go wrong, but the opposite is true. Also, the bodies of underage teenagers are often not fully developed which increases the risk on dangerous complications during the surgery. When bodies are not fully developed, the outcome that a surgery has could easily change over time, because the body is still changing. Lastly, teenagers are often not psychologically ready to handle the outcome of the operation. The teenagers who consider having plastic surgery often think that the results of the surgery will be perfect, but this result is simply impossible to achieve for doctors. These reasons are very relevant for this discussion and are carefully thought about. Doctors could earn money by doing these surgeries, but still refuse to do them. This implies how serious the risks are for teenagers who want to have cosmetic surgery.
Taking all these arguments into account, we cannot really draw an abstract conclusion. Both those in favor and those against plastic surgery have some serious arguments about why they would be right. Whereas teenagers think it should be allowed for them to have plastic surgery, most doctors and parents do not think it is a solution for the problems that the teenagers have. It is difficult to draw a conclusion because there are so many factors that need to be taken into consideration. That is why I think you need to draw up your own conclusion regarding the ethical question that is imposed in the introduction of this essay. To answer the question whether teenagers should be allowed to have plastic surgery, you need to look further than this essay only. There are far more arguments about this subject than there are arguments portrayed in this essay. Further research needs to be done by professionals to really understand all the factors and to answer the question for once and for all. For now the situation stays the same and parental permission and guidance is necessary to have the surgery. After all “Teenagers think like adults but behave like children” .