Even a few years ago, cosmetic surgeries were largely associated with rich and famous who desperately wanted to cling to their glamorous image as long as they live! But what do you make out of the news that a fifteen years old girl demanded a breast augmentation cosmetic surgery package for her sixteenth birthday? Well, this indicates to the latest trend: plastic surgery is no longer a domain explored by those in their middle ages, who have significantly lost their youthful grace due to growing age. Today, it is the teenagers that significantly occupy the cosmetic surgery market. Be it a breast augmentation or a rhynoplasty, a lip job or a male breast reduction surgery----you will encounter hundreds of young faces queuing up the plastic surgery clinics in anticipation of a new enhanced look.



If you are asked to define cosmetic surgery, you may probably choose these words to describe the procedure: a procedure aimed at improving patient's appearance and self-image. Yes, this concept of self image is extremely important when you come to explain the recent craze of the teenagers about plastic surgery. According to ASPS, among the US teenagers, the numbers of cosmetic surgery candidates are on a constant rise.

ASPS also reports varying reasons for which the teenagers resort to a plastic surgery. For the US teenagers, being acceptable in the peer group is a major stimulus for plastic surgery. Then comes the factor of self image; most of the young people opt for the procedure from the belief that certain changes will make them more attractive.

While reconstructive procedures correct defects on the face or body including the physical birth defects like cleft lips, palates or ear deformities and traumatic injuries, cosmetic procedures involve altering the appearance of a part of the body that the person happens to have a strong disliking.

The cosmetic procedures chosen most commonly by the teenagers include nose reshaping, ear surgery, acne and acne scar treatment, and breast reduction for boys and breast augmentation for girls.

Here are few things a teenager should remember before jumping into decision:

1. You should not take up surgery as an option just to please somebody else.

2. If you are too self conscious at this phase of your life just because the smallness or largeness of some part of your body, you must be informed that this is only a passing phase of your life and there are enough time left to your body taking just the right shape.

3. Never choose plastic surgery as a means to weight loss at this point of your life---instead try healthy diet and physical exercise.

4. There are certain cosmetic procedures that are not performed on the young patients. They include: Breast enlargement (not under 18), Liposuction and ultrasonic liposuction, Cheek implants (not under 15).

5. However, nose reshaping, ear pinback and removal of Gynecomastia are the commonest procedures that are commonly performed on the teenagers.

However, many cosmetic surgeons believe, that cosmetic surgeries can dramatically improve physical and emotional health of some teenagers. If you have taken your decision in favor of a cosmetic improvement, take your parents into confidence; visit the plastic surgeon along with your parents to get an overview of the expected results and possible complications or downsides to the surgery. In a nutshell, cosmetic surgery is not a subject that a teenager should jump into abrupt decision. Go for the surgery only when you know you have all the necessary facts.