Age for plastic surgery.
Jeannine Morrissette: What is the correct age that you feel somebody can have surgery?
Dr. Michael Salzhauer: Do you mean the youngest age or the oldest age?
Jeannine Morrissette: Yes, the youngest.
Dr. Michael Salzhauer: The youngest age. Well, it really varies. Plastic surgery of a reconstructive type is done on even infants, for purely cosmetic reasons, not functional reasons. We do cosmetic surgery on infants with misshapen skulls and cleft lips, obviously, and so forth. We do ear surgery around school age. If a child has big ears, we can do autoplasties at around six or seven, before they enter school and become self-conscious of it. So the answer is there's no– there's even some surgeons who do prenatal surgery for clef lip and pallet. So the age is not the main thing, as long as it's done in a safe environment and it's appropriate in an appropriate area of the body. Obviously, you wouldn't do liposuction on a child or a breast augmentation. But in our practice, we've been seeing rhinoplasties, girls come in at age around 15 or 16 and breast augmentations as young as 18 or 19. If they are teenagers, they always come in with their parents and it's always a long discussion that goes on with the parents in the office and the child to make sure that they're doing this for the right reasons and that they're mature enough to handle the change in their bodies. In most cases, for noses, it's a homerun. It's a win-win for everybody. With breast augmentation, it really depends on the patient how mature they are.
Jeannine Morrissette: I get so excited when a young girl or a young boy comes in and they're about 15 and their nose. And then when they get it done, when we see them post-op, the change in them, oh!
Dr. Michael Salzhauer: You can't get the smile off their face. They come in with like a giddy glee.
Jeannine Morrissette: Let's face it. Kids can be mean.
Dr. Michael Salzhauer: It really makes my day.
Jeannine Morrissette: It really does. Me, too.
Dr. Michael Salzhauer: It makes the whole office smile.
Jeannine Morrissette: I know. It really does. I love noses and of course, I had mine done. It made such a difference in me. So when I see this, and they come in, they're just so happy. It just makes me so excited.
This entry was posted on Sunday, April 8th, 2007 at 11:01 am and is filed under Age for surgery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Shaun
Says:December 13th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
This is awesome! So I am 17 yrs old and I play football for highschool and I have always wanted to get my nose done bc i think its tooooo BIG i get it from my dad. But i mean its big, so hearing that they are kids my age coming in makes me feel better than I’m not a weirdo wanting something that should be done as an adult. Hmmm. . . maybe i can get my parents to bring me in and get it as a xmas gift. Thanks!
Alexis
Says:January 7th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
i Agree this is wonderful news. My nose isn’t really too big but i have what many refer too as a wiches nose. That means i have bone that is way too big and not cute, I can’t wait to talk to my mom about going in for a consult.
Claudia
Says:February 4th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I agree with Dr. Salzhauer, as long as your doing it for the right reasons and you are mature enough to handle the changes age shouldn’t be a restriction for boosting your confidence with a surgical procedure. Kids can be mean so why have to put up with years of feeling insecure and self-conscious when you can change all of that in a matter of hours with surgery. Always make sure you are doing it within safe circumstances with a certified Pro like Dr. Salzhauer, that way you can make sure you’re in great hands!