United States: teen girls having breast implant surgery

Off Our Backs, Jul/Aug 2004 by Christian, Sena, Stachowski, Roxanne, Ferden, Sara, Walter, Shoshana

NEW YORK-Recent research from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons shows a 24 percent increase in the number of teens undergoing breast surgery in the past two years. More and more young women are requesting breast implants as high school graduation, birthday or holiday gifts and apparently many parents are paying for the procedure for their daughters.

In 2003, 3,841 teens under the age of 18 underwent breast augmentation. Surgeons and health officials are concerned that teens and their parents do not fully understand the health risks involved with the procedure. The bodies of teens are sometimes not fully developed before the age of 18, which poses serious potential health concerns. Autoimmune diseases and silicone leaks are a high risk for implant patients.

-info from Women's eNews