Plastic surgeons need to carefully evaluate the degree of deformity, physical and emotional maturity, and desired outcome for adolescent patients who request elective cosmetic surgery.
Plastic surgeons need to better screen and educate adolescent patients and their parents about the risks of performing cosmetic surgery on bodies that have not reached maturity and the psychological implications of surgery on developing body image.
Whether a physician fancies herself a member of the Green Party or the Tea Party, he or she must obey our government’s rules in her advocacy for that cause and be extremely diligent in those increasingly rare instances when she feels herself compelled not to do so.