Facial Surgery for Teens?

As I looked around the Internet last night, I found a blog about facial surgery given to a teenage girl because she was being bullied. Apparently the other kids in her peer group thought her ears were too big. Bullying has become a huge problem in our culture, not only in schools, but at the workplace as well. As it turns out, the doctor who performed the surgery also pointed out that this victim of bullying needed a rhinoplasty (nose reshaping, in this case a reduction) and a mentoplasty (reshaping of the chin to make it more or less prominent) as well, ostensibly because these two features would look “bigger” once the size of her ears were reduced. Pinning back the ears to reduce their size is called an otoplasty. Otoplasty made up 11 percent of all cosmetic surgical procedures performed on this age group in 2010, but this was more than 8,700 procedures.

The ethics of performing certain facial surgery on teens concerns me. As a young teen, one’s face has not fully matured. For instance, the jaw bone is the last bone to mature in the face. In most cases, facial maturity should be reached before surgery is performed. Facial growth continues through a person’s 20s, but most cosmetic surgeons consider nose growth predictable by age 16, in some cases 14 years old. The most requested cosmetic surgical procedure by teens is rhinoplasty, nose reshaping. The nose has completed 90 percent of its growth in boys at 15 or 16 years old, and in girls at 13 or 14 years old.

Physical maturity of the face is not the only concern in performing facial surgery for teens, also emotional maturity must be taken into consideration. I will generally only perform cosmetic surgery on the ears and the nose for a teenager under the age of 18, and only after a thorough consultation with the teen and his or her parents. Sometimes the corrections are medically advised. Realistic expectations are important, as are the motivations for surgery. Most teens that seek cosmetic surgery do so to fit in with his or her peer group, whereas most adults seek surgery to look better.

Cosmetic surgery for teenagers is controversial, and I believe that informed and thoughtful guidelines must be observed during a consultation. The risks and benefits of surgery must be weighed, as well as the motivation. However, if you and your teenager have considered either a rhinoplasty or an otoplasty, I will provide a consultation to help you access the viability and need for such surgery here at Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center. I believe ethics are important.

Call Melinda, my Patient/Surgery Coordinator, at the Little Rock Cosmetic Surgery Center to set up your appointment.

—Dr. Branman