Australian Bans on Teen Procedures
The Australian state of Queensland has banned cosmetic surgery procedures for under 18s, a move lauded by the doctors of the Australian Medical Assocation. New South Wales had already planned to implement a three month “cooling off” period on decisions by teens to undergo cosmetic surgery starting July 1 and may now go further.
Australian Medical Association (AMA) NSW branch president Dr Andrew Keegan said a cooling-off period was "heading in the right direction", but a total ban was preferable when it came to teenagers.
"We'd have them leaning toward making it even tougher for young people to get surgery," Dr Keegan said.
"I think the possibilities of a ban need to be considered."
Dr Keegan said he worried teenagers were seeking physical solutions to what may be psychological problems.
"There is a psychological dimension involving body image in the impulse to seek cosmetic surgery," he said.
"If you've got low self esteem, then you have to have your self esteem improved - you don't need some kind of reconfiguring."
New South Wales already has already banned breast augmentations and rhinoplasties on minors from its public hospitals. Most significant, in a country known for its beach culture and embrace of active lifestyles, is the recognition of the need to protect the immature against a culture of profiteering by surgeons pushing cosmetic procedures as a psychological shortcut amid a culture of unrealistic physical perfection. Further recognizing the unique nature of cosmetic surgeons as aggressively seeking to sell procedures to the imperfect, NSW is also calling for advertising to include information regarding the reality of those ubiquitous before and after pictures.
In the USA meanwhile, 2007 provided a bumper crop of breast augmentations for the under-18 set, with cosmetic surgeons reaping over $40 million, a 260% increase on 2006’s total. In the US, there is a ban on augmentations From KMBC's reporting on a teen who died as a result of the surgery:
The Food and Drug Administration doesn't approve breast augmentation for patients under 18. However... there are plastic surgeons who ignore the 18-and-under warning.
Indeed, the FDA does not approve of breast augmentation for under 18s. But this FDA disapproval also comes with loopholes big enough to render it meaningless.
"As in most cases, the devil will be in the details," said Dr. Thomas J. Gampper, vice chair of plastic surgery at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "The law allows procedures to correct deformities would be allowed [sic], along with undefined procedures to help a teenager's medical, psychological or social well-being. Those three exceptions are the reasons for the vast majority of all our adult cosmetic procedures, so theoretically, it may not ban any procedures on teens."
The FDA's regulations have been in place since 2000. The loopholes allow for saline implants to be inserted into the breasts of minors for reconstruction and to correct asymmetry. And the regulations were put in place, there has been a four-fold increase in the number of breast augmentations for minors. The figures for breast reductions, also genuinely used to to correct asymmetry, have remained constant.
While bigger breasts for teenagers have become big business, the numbers for otoplasty (ear surgery) and rhinoplasty (nose surgery) have declined.
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