Bullies Driving Scottish Teens To Cosmetic Surgery

• Monday July 10, 2006 in: Global Plastic Surgery Tag(s):

  Technorati Tags: plastic surgery, global plastic surgery

  In any school in any part of the globe, there will always be bullies. They treat other kids like crap, beating them up, taking their lunch money, or humiliating them in every possible way. Many bullied kids often implore their parents to transfer them to another school, or do just about anything to avoid bullying. Some take it to the extreme, like those crazy Columbine kids.

  And as far as extreme ways of dealing with bullying goes, Scotsman.com has reported over the weekend that more and more Scottish teenagers go under the knife to beat bullies.

  HUNDREDS of Scottish youngsters have had NHS-funded cosmetic surgery - including breast enlargement - some of them in a desperate bid to escape being bullied at school.

  Scotland on Sunday can reveal that at least 40 girls under 18 have had operations on the NHS to enlarge or reduce their breast size in the past five years. Another 21 youngsters have had surgery on their noses while more than 520 children have had prominent ears pinned back.

  Health officials insist cosmetic operations are only carried out on children suffering from severe psychological problems due to their appearance, but senior surgeons have revealed that some of the youngsters were referred for surgery after suffering taunts at the hands of bullies.

  This takes the phrase "peer pressure" onto a whole new level. Some of these kids perhaps get taunted that their breasts are "too big", the way actress Soleil Moon Frye was often teased in school as "Punky Boobster". Then they undergo breast reduction surgery to escape the taunts, never mind that they're still 13 years old. The same probably goes for kids with oversized ears, flat chests and flabby midsections.

  Generally, cosmetic surgery on teenagers can be done safely, but a number of issues are being raised against it, including the fact that the bodies of many of these kids are still developing. Check out this article about teenagers and cosmetic surgery for more information about the pros and cons of cosmetic surgical procedures on teens.