beauty is only skin deep

Listening to: Train's When I Look To The Sky

and so i said it was difficult to prove obsession. But it is definitely true that the importance placed on looks by this generation is getting increasingly higher...

read abt how a 9-year-old boy went for surgery to get double eyelids! makes you think right? what were YOU doing at the age of 9? Did you understand the concept of double eyelids back then?

so how has the world changed? we talk about superficiality.. but isn't it scary that the superficial world can start at the ripe old age of 9?

if i were the reporter, i'd go out of my way to track down this 9-year-old to take a pix of his newly-minted double eyelids :P

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More teens turn to nip and tuck for better looks

By Liaw Wy-Cin

FOR a growing number of teens, their looks just don't cut it anymore.

And so they're heading to plastic surgeons for a nip and tuck.

In the past five years, the number of teens undergoing cosmetic surgery has doubled, said 12 of the 20 plastic surgeons canvassed by The Straits Times.

Each of the 12 surgeons saw between 20 and 200 teens last year, representing an increase of about 10 to 30 per cent a year since 1999. Singapore General Hospital alone takes in about 150 teenagers for aesthetic surgery annually.

The operations are sometimes gifts from the parents, who believe it will enhance their children's chances in life. Breast augmentation is a popular 16th birthday gift, said Dr Woffles Wu, consultant aesthetic plastic surgeon with Woffles Wu Aesthetic Surgery and Laser Centre.

Support from parents is key, because surgery for patients below 21 requires their consent - and because the procedures don't come cheap.

The most popular operation - double eyelid surgery - costs between $1,600 and $5,000. Nose jobs cost $5,300 to $12,000; chin augmentation $5,000 to $6,000; breast augmentation $15,000 to $16,000; liposuction $6,000 to $15,000 per area; acne treatment $1,000 to $2,000 for oral medication and about $12,000 for more complex treatments to remove scars.

Medisave funds may not be used as these procedures are not considered 'medical'. Parents, however, are willing to fork out the cash.

However, not all are affluent and some have to save up for a long time, just as they might for a coveted designer bag, said Dr Martin Huang, consultant plastic surgeon at The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic.

Some of his patients are in their mid-teens - and one boy was just nine years old. He came in to get a pair of double eyelids, like most of the other young patients.

Some parents are even more eager than their children for such 'self-improvement' procedures, said Dr Huang. Often, these parents, usually the mothers, have had cosmetic surgery done themselves.

Most youngsters start off with double eyelid surgery and may return for other procedures when they are older, said Dr Hong Soo Wan, a plastic surgeon at Cosmetic Specialist Centre.

Doctors attribute the rising trend of teen cosmetic surgery to the Internet and media, including glamorous makeover shows. Also, advances in medical science and technology have made plastic surgery simpler and less invasive and have shortened the recovery time.

'There is a destigmatisation or even the glamorisation of cosmetic surgery. It has now even become a spectator sport,' said Dr Seah Chee Seng, a plastic surgeon in private practice.

One mother, who had double eyelid surgery done, took her 15-year-old daughter to see Dr Seah for the same procedure.

'The girl was very happy about it and told all her classmates. It is likely that her younger sister will do the same procedure when she's older,' said Dr Seah, who practises at Plastic Surgery Associates and Sinova Medical Centre.

Associate Professor Paulin Tay-Straughan, deputy head of the sociology department at the National University of Singapore, thinks popular culture and the influence of the media have fuelled the spike in cosmetic surgery among teens.

All this tends to have a psychological impact on youngsters.

Dr Brian Yeo, consultant psychiatrist at Mt Elizabeth Medical Centre, occasionally sees patients referred by plastic surgeons who suspect they may have psychological problems.

'Cosmetic surgery is becoming so common and accepted now, the fear is that a social divide may be created between those who can afford cosmetic surgery and those who can't,' said Dr Yeo.

Having cosmetic surgery done too early in life may also cause physical problems later, warns Dr Rexon Ngim, a consultant plastic surgeon with Aesthetic Plastic Reconstructive Surgery.

As the body is still growing and changing, the surgically enhanced parts may become out of sync with the rest of the face or body, he said.

It might be better to wait until the body, and the mind, has grown up.