Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 01:32:20 -0700

Sincerely, 

Martha Murdock, Director

Karen Lawrence, President

National Silicone Implant Foundation

~~~ Some of the most rewarding work I've done is at Universities, talking Henrietta Farber at UC San Diego have been wonderful about getting our information into their campuses. Henrietta has set up a section in the Women's Center with books and tapes and important breast implant information. Marva has gotten several articles in their college paper. I highly recommend that whoever feels strong enough, do some of this Community Outreach ~ it's still truer than true . . . if not us. . . then who? if not now, then when? 

thanks for this article, Martha! 

love, Ilena 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Subject: Cosmetic surgery draws teen-agers 

Cosmetic surgery draws teen-agers

By Jenny Caldwell

O'Connor High School

Urban Journalism Workshop 

Visitors stare at themselves in the full-length mirror inside the elevator that takes them to the second-floor plastic surgeon's office in central Austin. 

Seeing their reflections, potential patients cannot help but examine the flaws they would like to have repaired. 

When they step out of the elevator, their eyes are attracted to before-and-after pictures of middle-aged men and women who have received nose reshaping, face lifts and tummy tucks that took years off their appearances. 

A brightly lighted, white-walled operating room is on-site. Dominating the center of the room is a black-and-silver, futuristic operating chair. 

Across the hall is a softly lighted room with a floral-covered bed. Pastel paintings hang on the walls in the post-surgery recovery room. 

This office suite belongs to Dr. Robert Ersek, who has performed about 20,000 cosmetic surgeries since 1978. Hundreds of his patients have been teen-agers. 

On a recent afternoon, Ersek invited three patients to discuss their experiences with cosmetic surgery. 

Christina, 19, withheld her last name from this story but volunteered to share her experiences. 

"I was very nervous," she said. "I didn't know what to expect." 

Christina recalled feeling anxious as she stood naked and covered in iodine from head to toe Dec. 29, 1999, in the operating room, the first of her two surgeries. During her first surgery, she had a breast reduction and lift. On June 15, she had liposuction on her abdomen, flanks, inner and outer thighs and lower chin. 

Christina, an Austin native, stands 5-foot-1, has fair skin and chin-length, curly, red hair. She has a firm handshake and glowing smile. 

She lifts her shirt to reveal a taupe, bandage-like body suit that provides support for her body to heal. She holds the second-place record of having the most body fat removed during liposuction 25 pounds. 

"I wanted to get rid of figure flaws. It's a jump-start for me to be healthier," she said. 

A growing number of teens are looking to plastic surgery to repair physical imperfections. 

"Teens are very self-conscious. They have surgery for the same reason they buy (designer) jeans ... they want to fit in," said Byron L. Armstrong, a licensed advanced clinical practitioner in San Antonio. 

"Adolescents are narcissistic by definition. That's part of the developmental phase, which is why they're very self-conscious about their bodies." 

In addition to being self-conscious, teens are influenced by the way people look on television and in movies. 

In the music video "Unpretty," hip-hop singing group TLC discourages teens from taking drastic measures to look pretty. 

"Every part of our society relies on the media. Teens are very impressionable," said Christina's mother, Cathy, who has had breast implants and liposuction. 

When Christina asked her mother if she could have plastic surgery, Cathy originally had mixed emotions. 

"She's really logical and had logical arguments," Cathy said. "I thought if I had had this problem when I was younger, I would have done it." 

The responsibility of the surgeon is to determine whether the patient's goals are realistic, Ersek said. 

Ersek turned away a patient who wanted large, pointy ears, hoping that people would treat him with more respect if he changed his appearance. The patient walked into Ersek's office wearing a T-shirt with the image of "Star Trek's" Dr. Spock. 

"Having plastic surgery is a big decision that requires a lot of introspection. It could be the cause of a lack of self-confidence," Armstrong said. Patients "should seek counsel first to make sure the problem is external." 

Ersek has not sent any of his patients to see a counselor, but he prides himself on offering the opportunity to look normal. 

"Old people want to look younger, and young people want to look normal," Ersek said. "If someone has an ugly nose, fix it." 

He defines normal as a C-cup bra size and a thin nose that is tipped at the end. 

"There are actual standards of normal. A C-cup is normal. B-cup, you've been shortchanged, and a D is too much," he said. 

Another patient of Ersek agreed to discuss her plastic surgery. Stacey, 21, has spent more than $20,000. 

Besides liposuction on her legs, thighs, abdomen, arms, and back, Stacey had a tummy tuck, chin implants, a nose job and a hip lift. 

She stands lean and tall. Her auburn hair is meticulously curled, offsetting her French manicure and tanned skin. 

"Getting plastic surgery is extremely addictive," said Stacey, who also withheld her last name. "You get scars, but it's a trade-off." 

When Stacey asked her parents for plastic surgery at age 19, her mom was supportive, but her dad was concerned with how much the surgery would cost. 

Though her parents were against her having the hip lift and are shocked at the scars on her body, they have paid for her operations. 

"We are dealing with a generation of relatively unparented children, who are less supervised; therefore, they have the opportunity to carry out impulsive decisions," Armstrong said. 

Ersek said the medical community has no ethical problems with performing cosmetic operations on teens. 

"The patients feel just fine. They do well, feel well and are happy," he said. 

Armstrong believes differently. 

"The ethical question is should teen-agers be allowed to make that decision (to have plastic surgery) or not?" Armstrong said. 

Cathy said she made sure Christina's reasoning was sound. 

"It shouldn't be about the body," Cathy said. "She has a healthy, good, this-doesn't-change-our-lives attitude." 

Now, as Christina stares in the elevator mirrors, she feels confident. 

"When I first came here, I (didn't like the mirrors)," Christina said. "Now it's no big deal." 

07/01/2000