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.
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, we would encourage the patient and her parents to wait until her physical development is complete.
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.
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.
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.
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