Plastic Surgery
What is Plastic Surgery?
Plastic surgery is surgery that focuses on fixing body parts that have been lost, been hurt, or have not grown the way they should.
Usually, living tissue is used to make repairs, meaning that skin or muscle from another part of your child’s body is used to fix the part that is missing, deformed, or injured. Sometimes implants are used.
For children, there are specialists called pediatric plastic surgeons. (Pediatric means they are trained in working with kids.) The two main kinds of plastic surgery for children are reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery.
Reconstructive Surgery
Reconstructive surgery is used to fix a physical problem that keeps your child from functioning. Cosmetic surgery is used to improve how your child looks. Some procedures in kids both fix a physical problem and change how your child looks. The things a plastic surgeon can treat in children include:- Some birth defects
- Injuries to the face and body
- Birthmarks
- Scars
- Burns
Cosmetic Surgery
For your child to have a cosmetic surgery, they need to be over 18 or have your consent as a parent. Common cosmetic surgeries include:
- Breast augmentation (with breast implants)
- Breast reduction
- Rhinoplasty [RIE-no-plas-tee] (to reshape the nose)
- Liposuction [LIE-poh-suk-shun] (to remove fat)
- Tummy tuck (to remove fat and excess skin)
- Otoplasty [OH-tuh-plas-tee] (ear surgery)
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Plastic surgery is done on children of all ages. Surgery to fix a cleft palate might be done on an infant. Otoplasty (to pin back ears) can be done on young children. It is best to do it as your child’s ears are almost done developing, around four to six years old, but it can be done on teens too.
Rhinoplasty is the most common surgery in teens. It can be done when the nose is almost done growing. Breast surgeries can be done when the breasts have stopped growing. Getting implants to make breasts bigger is not approved by the FDA for patients younger than 18.
Pediatricians recommend that you don’t bring up the subject of your teen having a cosmetic procedure done. It’s important that your teen have a specific and realistic goal before they would be considered a good candidate for cosmetic surgery.
The Benefits:
Plastic surgery can help your child if they have a condition or injury that can’t be treated with medicine or other treatments alone. Plastic surgery to fix birth defects, injuries, and other problems can help a child feel better about their looks and help give them confidence.
Examples of birth defects that can be helped with reconstructive surgery include:
- Cleft palate
- Misshapen skull
- Ears that stick out or are missing
- Misshapen breasts
- Webbed fingers and webbed toes
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Cosmetic surgery can sometimes benefit your child. For example, removing breast tissue (a breast reduction surgery) can help with these problems:
- Back and shoulder pain caused by very large breasts in some girls
- Breasts that develop on boys and don’t go away even after losing weight
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To learn more about whether a procedure will help your child, talk to a pediatric plastic surgeon.
