Banning Non-Essential, Elective Cosmetic

Surgery for Teens under the Age of 18

A Persuasive Essay by :

Teresa Nadia 07120110050

Michelle Hendrayanta 07120110086
Stefanie Karina 07120110100

Faculty of Medicine
Universitas Pelita Harapan
2014

Adolescents minds and bodies are not fully developed.. As we know, adolescents minds
and bodies are still growing and it usually happens in fast pace. This development stage will lead
the teenagers to and inconsistent body and mind. From the mind perspective, teenagers will
easily feel uncomfortable yet in seconds they can feel the other way around. In conclusion they
are not stable mentally yet. Their mind will continue growing until they reach middle 20s. In the
other hand, skeletal maturity can be reached at the age of 14-15. The adolescents bodies will
continue to settle and mature beyond that age. Specifically, average teenage girls bodies will
gain weight in the age between 18- 21. In this stage, they will feel it is the right time to undergo
plastic surgery, while in fact, their bodies are not stable yet to undergo liposuction. Teenagers
cannot permanently alter their body shape before they are fully matured, that is why initiating
plastic surgery during teenager stage is not a worth it action.
Teenagers do several common plastic surgeries that are done by their surroundings and
they only see the good outcome within the society without considering the further impact or
damaged that can be occurred from the surgery. This is the trigger of them doing such action.
They can easily think that if their surroundings can get the best outcome from the surgery, they
can achieve the same outcome as their surroundings have. This can happen because of the
immaturity of their mind. They will not consider the treatment and the effect that is encountered
by the other people within the society.
The most common plastic surgery for teenagers are nose job and liposuction. From those
surgeries, teenagers with undeveloped mind will think the surgeries are worth to be done, yet
when they encounter the side effects or not satisfied with the result of the surgery, they will feel
regretful on what they did. This will cause another pressure for them and will impact the
teenagers extremely. If they are mentally ready to accept whatever the outcome will be, they will
feel regretful and wish they did not do the surgery, while if they are not mentally ready to accept
the result, in extreme case, these teenagers can initiate suicide. The cause of this extreme
activity is that there is no turning back in plastic surgery. It is true that they can have correction
on the particular part that undergone the procedure, yet if the outcome is still not satisfying
enough for them, the correction will be done over and over again which will cause a lot of
money. That is why the worst case scenario of the undesired outcome of plastic surgery can
result in suicide action.

Naturally, teenagers will feel comfortable about their bodies as they get older. This can
be seen from the real life example. People in the age beyond 30 will not try as hard as teenagers
do to get their body in shape, because their bodies are settled and hard to be shaped. Another
factor is that they have come to maturity level that their bodies are the best they can have and
nothing needs to be changed because of their achievement in life such as in their career, family,
or love life. The thought of undergoing plastic surgery will be reduced during this stage because
they will not think about it as much as they did when they were young, that is why teenagers
should not undergo plastic surgery.
-It is not yet proven that cosmetic surgery can improve teens psychological well-being.

Many bad cases at school or other public places, or even at home, encourage teenagers to
improve themselves physically and mentally. The example of the case is bullying. This is a very
common action at school, even many students got their own nick name from their seniors, this
action can damage them mentally and they will find ways to boost their self-esteem. One of the
most favorite ways that comes to their mind these days is through plastic surgery. This
phenomenon happens because it is the most simple and efficient way to achieve more self esteem
through having a well- shaped body or look. Another cause of this phenomenon is that the
number of young executives is rising in which they have the funding to undergo plastic surgery
which is not only occurring to women , but also to men.
In improving the self- esteem, parents will have to involve and provide more information
to their children about the side effects and the harm of plastic surgery both mentally and
physically to their children. They( parents) can offer other options instead of undergoing plastic
surgery. The main reason that parents have to play a role in assisting their children not to do
plastic surgery is the long- term effects of the surgery itself. If the surgery goes well, yes, they
will get maximum outcome for themselves from it, but if the surgery does not go as they
expected it will cause a bigger problem than before. Many parents also encouraging their
children to do such surgery, that is wrong based on some research because it will cause another
problem in the future, if the surgery goes well, the children might want to do more and not only
in one or two specific parts. In extreme case, the children may demand on the entire body
surgery from top to toe.

It is hard to stop the action when it comes to the stage where the teenagers want to do
more and more correction for their body because it causes addiction. They will think that the
more they got improved in more body parts they will gain more self- esteem, more confidence,
and more respect from their surroundings. This is fatal because not everybody will think that
way, even there are some people who against this action that will judge them terribly in the
society, even this community or group of people will damage the teenager and provoke the
society not to mingle with the ones who undergo this action. This will make the situation more
complicated because on one side the teenager think that it is acceptable and will be beneficial for
them but in real life not every person is supporting this action because it is considered harmful
and not acceptable for some religion.
Many research display that cosmetic surgery is not proven to improve teens
psychological well- being. So, it is not the best way out for teenagers to gain more confidence or
self- esteem. It is found in another study that self esteem and body image will improve along age.
This is why teens must think over again before they do the plastic surgery because it is not a
necessary action to be done because they will gain more confidence and self-esteem more after
their mind is well- developed. Therefore, parents will have to prevent their children to do
cosmetic surgery even only a small part of their body.