22-01-2004, 01:19 PM
Did anyone catch the programme on ITV last night about children having cosmetic surgery?
It featured 4 children, 3 in the UK and one in the United States. All wanted (and got) cosmetic surgery.
The first was a really sweet youngster of about 10 with bad sticky-out ears. She had been the victim of a lot of teasing and it was clearly quite a problem for her. In fairness, she had a point, from behind she did look like VW Beetle with the doors open!
The second was an 18 year-old girl who had wanted breast implants since she was about 11. Strangely enough Mum and Dad ran a cosmetic surgery business! She wanted to go from an A to a B cup and M&D were quite happy to pick up the bill, in fact, they even encouraged it.
The third was a poor lass that wanted a breast reduction. She was only quite young but already her breasts were causing her a huge problem with back pain and were clearly damaging her confidence badly. It looked a pretty painful and unpleasant op, but this lass was pretty brave.
The fourth was a young American girl that wanted lipposuction to shift about 20lbs. She was shown days before the op tucking in to a nice fat slice of pizza. They then went on to show the actual lipposuction, suffice to say that it was gross.
Kids 1 and 3 had their procedures paid for by the NHS, 2's parents paid as did 4's (as she was in the US of course).
I had huge amounts of sympathy for 1 and 3, but little or none for 2 and 4, was I wrong? Should children be allowed to choose to have cosmetic surgery? I could see a genuine reason for the pinning back of the ears and the breast reduction, because there were genuine confidence benefits for the girls involved. But to me 2 and 4 were about nothing more than fashion and trying to be like the images we see in magazines. Quite disturbing really.
It featured 4 children, 3 in the UK and one in the United States. All wanted (and got) cosmetic surgery.
The first was a really sweet youngster of about 10 with bad sticky-out ears. She had been the victim of a lot of teasing and it was clearly quite a problem for her. In fairness, she had a point, from behind she did look like VW Beetle with the doors open!
The second was an 18 year-old girl who had wanted breast implants since she was about 11. Strangely enough Mum and Dad ran a cosmetic surgery business! She wanted to go from an A to a B cup and M&D were quite happy to pick up the bill, in fact, they even encouraged it.
The third was a poor lass that wanted a breast reduction. She was only quite young but already her breasts were causing her a huge problem with back pain and were clearly damaging her confidence badly. It looked a pretty painful and unpleasant op, but this lass was pretty brave.
The fourth was a young American girl that wanted lipposuction to shift about 20lbs. She was shown days before the op tucking in to a nice fat slice of pizza. They then went on to show the actual lipposuction, suffice to say that it was gross.
Kids 1 and 3 had their procedures paid for by the NHS, 2's parents paid as did 4's (as she was in the US of course).
I had huge amounts of sympathy for 1 and 3, but little or none for 2 and 4, was I wrong? Should children be allowed to choose to have cosmetic surgery? I could see a genuine reason for the pinning back of the ears and the breast reduction, because there were genuine confidence benefits for the girls involved. But to me 2 and 4 were about nothing more than fashion and trying to be like the images we see in magazines. Quite disturbing really.