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More Teens Choosing To Go Under Knife

Doctors Say Having High Maturity Level Is Important

POSTED: 3:58 p.m. EST February 25, 2003

From the most popular clothes to the hippest hairstyle, being attractive has now taken on a whole new meaning for teenagers.

plastic surgery for teens

NewsChannel5's Lee Jordan reported that, in some cases, teens are willing to go under the knife to make it happen.

After years of feeling self-conscious, Danielle Feldkamp (pictured, right), 20, decided to get a breast reduction.

"Noses, breast reductions, those are very common operations done on teenagers because by the time somebody's 16 or 17, the breast or the nose are fully matured," said Dr. Michael Wojtanowski. "They're not going to change after that."

Wojtanowski said that age really doesn't play a role when plastic surgeons make the decision to do cosmetic surgery on a teenager -- maturity does.

"Having an elective cosmetic operation requires someone who can understand the commitment that they're making, understand that they're going to have incisions, (that) they're going to have a permanent scar, that there may be some risks involved," he said.

The benefits far outweighed the risks for Feldkamp.

"My back hurt all the time," she said. "I didn't like anything about (them). It helped my self-esteem to get rid of (them). I didn't care what the magazines (said)."

After the surgery, Feldkamp's mom noticed that change, too.

"(She became) more outgoing, more willing to do things," Becky Feldkamp said. "It was tough finding a picture of her before to show her size. She either wore baggy clothes or she was behind somebody or next to somebody."

Wojtanowski cautioned that plastic surgery can't fix everything.

He said that in some cases, self-esteem issues go so deep that only professional counseling will help those teens.

Nose reconstructions and breast reductions are the top two cosmetic surgeries teenagers get, according to doctors.




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