My daughter wants plastic surgery and I really ...

I am 17 years old and I wanted a breast augmentation for my 16th birthday. My parents are very strict so they were really really against it. I felt so bad when I was with all my friends who all have bigger boobs then me. All of the boys at school never looked twice at me because I'm smaller then everyone else. Guys like big boobs, and I don't have them. I begged and begged for months and months. One day my father comes home with a dvd of plastic surgeries gone bad (an Oprah special). After seeing all the risks and people that have been hurt by doctors making silly mistakes I never spoke about getting a boob job ever again. I will not get the image out of my head of the implants that leaked and poisoned this girls blood or the man who accidentally had his penis cut off in surgery. I am so thankful to have a healthy body and there is no reason to cut it up and change it. I now look at the models on the runway and their boobs are small, like mine . I think becoming happy with the way you look is hard and seeing all these perfect people on TV makes it even harder. One thing to remind your daughter, these people aren't real! Sometimes we forget that the faces on TV are airbrushed to seem perfect but in fact they have blemishes and imperfections just like any normal human being.

I have been a plastic surgeon for 25 years and it is my policy, with rare exception, to only perform breast augmentation on women 18 years old and over.

My reasons are:

1. At 16 or 17 most girls are not fully emotionally mature and subject to peer pressure and the glorification of TV and Celebrity culture which promotes plastic surgery and large breasts. Many women will find that as they mature, develop a career, marry, have children, they will have a more stable self image less reliant on peers and the general culture. They may decide that they wish they had not had breast surgery.

2. Breast augmentation is a wonderful procedure which can beautifully enhance the female figure-however it is surgery with risks of complications-i believe the patient should be old enough to understand these risks and make an informed decision.

3. Most important-at 16 or 17 the young woman's body and breast are still developing and maturing. To surgically operate on an immature breast risks injury that may hinder further natural breast development.

 Understand, I have been a plastic surgeon for 25 tears, do many breast augmentations, approve of the procedure, and have very happy patients. I just feel 16 or 17 is too young. 

There is one exception and that is young women who have a congenital breast deformity-either Poland's Syndrome, Breast hypoplasia, or the Tuberous breast deformity. These young women suffer from a congenital deformity and in their cases I intervene early because the psychological damage for their deformity at post adolescence can be severe. I view these cases the same way i would a child with a cleft lip.

 Dr Seckel

drseckel.com 

Is 10 years old for a girl, old enough to know whether or not she has hypoplasia. My daughter is 10. At the age of 9 years her right breast began to bud- the left never followed. It is very sore if it is bumped and she is very self concious about it now. Should i be concerned or is this normal?