With the Right Approach, Plastic Surgery for Teens and Young Adults is Now a Positive Experience
At The Parker Center for Plastic Surgery, a team approach ensures that teens and young adults are ready for plastic surgery.
Voohees, NJ (Vocus/PRWEB ) May 19, 2010 — In light of recent media coverage of teens and plastic surgery, including a Today Show segment on March 30th, New Jersey plastic surgeon, Dr. Paul M. Parker, saw a great opportunity to address the right way to approach cosmetic surgery for teens and young adults and the benefits.
Advances in cosmetic surgery have allowed procedures to be performed more safely with more natural appearing results. This has increased their popularity in general, but also with teenagers and young adults, as well. They read magazines and view television shows which deal with these topics and are comfortable with the idea of aesthetic improvement.
Children and teens can be cruel to kids who don’t fit in. Although cosmetic surgery can’t change a child’s IQ, it can significantly improve their appearance—such things as large noses, weak chins, protruding ears, girls with significant breast asymmetry, overly large breasts or no breast development at all or. Even teenage acne can be improved with up to date IPL treatments. These procedures should improve their social life and self esteem in addition to allowing them to feel more comfortable with themselves and their appearance.
There is a fine line between what is and is not appropriate for teens and young adults. For example, a 16 year old girl, who is not completely developed physically or psychologically, wants to enlarge her otherwise normal breasts from a B to C cup. In this example, at the Parker Center, we would encourage the patient and her parents to wait until her physical development is complete.
Before View After View
Before View After View
“We’ve always taken a team approach here at The Parker Center,” says Dr. Parker. “The value of this approach is to make sure that surgery is the right answer for the particular patient involved.” Dr. Parker and his team will spend time interviewing the patient to be sure they are having the surgery performed for the right reasons, are emotionally mature enough to handle the surgery and have realistic expectations regarding its outcome.
This team approach also often involves communication between Dr. Parker with the patient’s pediatrician, parents, and psychologist, if there is one involved. A majority of Dr. Parker’s younger patients are referred by their pediatricians because they have expressed a problem with some aspect of their face or body.
Dr. Parker consults with the teen and parents to determine that the teen is self-motivated to fix some issue that is causing problems for them socially and/ or psychologically. For example, rhinoplasty in New Jersey is a very common procedure performed on younger individuals. The main motivator is usually the psychological stress of peer teasing and poor self-image and not just to have some celebrity’s nose.
If depression and deeper psychological issues, which is present in some patients, are relevant issues, they are also dealt with by the Parker Center team. Addressing this is another advantage of the team approach used by Dr. Parker. Pediatricians have insight into the patient and through discussion with Dr. Parker can help determine the best course of treatment. It may be that the teen actually does need counseling before resorting to surgery because of deeper issues.
At the Parker Center, one of the team members has specialized training which can benefit their patients. Angela, Dr. Parker’s nurse educator, is also a degreed psychologist with prior experience working with psychological patient issues. “During the patient education session, Angela offers a unique perspective to the process because she can ferret out psychological issues that others may not be aware of,” says Dr. Parker. “She is a huge asset to our team approach concept because she adds that extra layer specialized insight to the consultation process.”
Before View After View
Before View After View
For teens and young adults who are deemed emotionally and physically ready to undergo surgery, the benefits are amazing. An 18 year old girl with DD cup breasts is no longer subjected to catcalls, lewd nicknames and back pain because her breasts are made more proportional to her body. A 17 year old boy can go to the beach and take his shirt off for the first time since puberty because he no longer has gynecomastia. These are just a few examples of using plastic surgery in New Jersey to affect a positive change in the lives of teens and young adults.
“These teenagers and young adults have replaced the negative thoughts as they look in the mirror with positive ones,” says Dr. Parker. “It is very cool to see their emotional changes evolve over the course of the following year as we conduct our follow-up appointments.”
The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery recently released their statistics for 2009. The top 5 procedures for patients 18 and under were: rhinoplasty, otoplasty, breast reduction, breast augmentation and male breast reduction. New Jersey surgeon, Dr. Parker, sees similar trends in his practice. He performs all of his procedures in his state-of-the-art Surgiplex, LLC facility with patient safety as a priority.
“Our goal is to follow all appropriate steps before surgery,” says Dr. Parker. “We don’t rush anyone, particularly young patients to the operating room. We carefully evaluate and educate them to make sure that surgery is a good option that will be beneficial to them.” Using this approach, we’ve enjoyed great success with regard to patient satisfaction in performing teenage plastic surgery in New Jersey.
About Dr. Paul M. Parker:
Dr. Paul M. Parker, M.D. graduated from George Washington University of Medicine in Washington, DC, where he was the recipient of the distinguished CV Mosby Award of Excellence. He completed residencies in both General Surgery and Plastic Surgery at New York University Medical Center, where he received the Theodore Barnett Award for Excellence in Teaching. He also completed a fellowship in Microsurgery at New York University Medical Center’s Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery with heavy emphasis on innovative methods of breast reconstruction.
Dr. Parker is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. He holds a certificate of advanced education in cosmetic surgery. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and an active member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the Northeastern Society of Plastic Surgeons, the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, and the New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Additionally, he has been selected as one of the top surgeons in his field by Consumer’s Research Council of America and has been named in Castle Connolly’s registry of “Americas Cosmetic Doctors” He has also served as Assistant Clinical Professor of Plastic Surgery at New York University Medical Center.
About The Parker Center:
Located in Paramus, New Jersey, the Parker Center is a 15,000 square foot facility boasting an AAAASF and Medicare certified surgical center and state of the art medi-spa. The Parker Center for Plastic Surgery prides itself on enhancing their patient’s lives through individualized support and impeccable attention to detail.
Patient Testimonials:
Jonathan- Male Breast Reduction
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