Latest / HKB Uncut | A Cosmetic Surgery Podcast / Does social media pressure teenagers and young adults to get cosmetic surgery?

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Does social media pressure teenagers and young adults to get cosmetic surgery? · HKB Uncut | A Cosmetic Surgery Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Kids who have severely prominent ears, those ears can be repaired at a very young age before they enter school so they don't face social ridicule.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: My kid's a teenager and then his friend group that are asking me kind of aesthetic questions at such an early age.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's not that's not nothing.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's something that they're gonna have to maintain.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna have to have multiple procedures in the future.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_02: Because again, kids are they're they can be mean.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: We have to elicit this from a patient's history.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like if they're planning to have a kid in a year or two, it's like just wait.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I think part of it is I I think what's out there in social media right now is there are kids at a younger age that are analyzing their facial features.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Which they weren't when we were growing up.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: And part of it is kind of what these individuals, these so-called influencers are out there saying what is aesthetically pleasing versus not pleasing.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's called looks maxing in Gen Z terms.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I mean, I looks max every day.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: However, it looks men, men.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Your your looks mid.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: He looks like a douche.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Is what most people say.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: But it it it's just intriguing to me that I have like my kid's a teenager, um, and then his friend group that are asking me kind of aesthetic questions at such an early age that it wasn't necessarily the case five, ten years ago.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Are you seeing that more and more kind of Yeah, maybe not exactly that, but like you know, I have I have four girls at home and you know they all are into things.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, if you you know, some of the maybe the subtle stuff is like all this crazy skincare.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: There's a there was a huge thing for like a skincare and appealing to like young, young kids, all these kids ordering a shit with skincare, like crazy amounts.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: And like, so like there is definitely ultra ultra interest in beauty and skin.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Skin is like flawless.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and like and then and then and my and my girls like they're my tone, they're outside, they're like, I gotta go tan.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you don't have tan, you're brown.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: And like, I want tan lines, and like all this funny, odd stuff that like kids do, but they they they're doing it though because they are definitely molded by different forces.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I think we were molded maybe by TV and movies, and now these kids are all molded by definitely by social and and and obviously normal peer press, but they're but their peer pressure now is all social media.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: But the question is, is it healthy or not healthy, right?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: And where is it draw the line of of excessive versus not excessive?
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And are we gonna see an influx of younger and younger people wanting aesthetic services because of this looks maxing trend?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um I just learned a new term.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_02: I think the answer is the answer is gonna be yes.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: The question is kind of how we're gonna approach it and deal with that.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think the actual approach should be from you know ethical, moral, plastic surgeons?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think we've always been faced with this.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we have to make sure that when someone comes in or you do anything on to a patient that they they understand the gravity of the situation, they are consenting, they know the risks, benefits, etc.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: Now, when it's a kid, listen, medical legally, you know, obviously a kid can't make that decision.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: When they're under 18, they cannot, and a parent has to be part of that process.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um the other thing is gonna be like like re actual reality of things.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like kids are growing.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: You don't want to do anything on someone during the phase while they're growing, typically, because their their their morphology, their physical you know, attributes are going to change.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um there are a couple exceptions, like you know, I think we need to draw lines.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the the few exceptions that are out there.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: Listen, like there's some kids who have severely prominent ears, and those ears can be repaired at a very young age before they enter school, um, so they don't face um ro social ridicule and and and um ostraciz getting ostracized by others, and you know, and kids can be savage, and so I think that's some things that you know, and I used to do a fair amount of those.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: They can also be done when they're older, um, like in their teens.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um a lot of times my approach with patients, and I don't know what yours is, like when patient parent comes and sees me, hey, my kid's ears, should I get them fixed?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you know, as like at the end of the day, like I can't tell you to get them fixed.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: This is something you can do it.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: But if you want your kid to be autonomous and part of that process, then wait.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: See what they say.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: If they want to drive it, then I think it's reasonable.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I think that's been typically my approach.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't do many at the really, really young age because listen, every any kind of procedure or surgery has risks.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: You know, putting a kid under anesthesia if you don't have to, you know, maybe not.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: The cool thing about that procedure is it can be done under under local total a lot of times.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, that that's a very common one that we do routinely because again, kids are they're they can be mean, right?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And they can pinpoint certain things on people's bodies that have lasting effects.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Totally.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And the cool thing is what we can do is they they can have that repaired and it's great.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Another one's breast surgery, right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: You you mentioned it earlier, you know, a young woman comes in with very, very large breasts and inhibits kind of physical activity, sports, having to run.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_02: And they can be gigantomassia where they're huge.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like they literally are causing problems.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like that person needs help, functional help, right?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: So doing a breast reduction is actually an amazing operation on these young individuals.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: The question becomes, at what point do you do it, right?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And what I tend to tell folks is if you're actively changing, you know, if you're then what what I mean by that is your breasts are getting bigger and bigger and bigger, you don't want to ultimately go down the road with doing a breast reduction.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: However, that being said, if things have been stable and they've been stable for a particular point in time and they're inhibiting activity and they're getting in the way, I think breast reduction is a really kind of viable option.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: How about when they do get um children, for example?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and so here's the deal.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: That that's the thing, is and this is a this is a good segue because you know, having kids will change your body.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_02: So someone wanting to have some breast enhancement, breast lift, breast reduction, abdominal plasty, liposuction, all these things like we we have to we have to elicit this from a patient's history.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like if they're planning to have a kid in a year or two, it's like, you know, just wait.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you know, hang on.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: But sometimes people are part their life plan is still undecided.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: And part of them and being living their best and feeling their best is to get where they need to be now and then plan.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we have to plan for that.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I think if it's acutely someone's gonna have kids, then you should wait.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: There's no doubt.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but sometimes it's hard for people too because it could be five, ten years.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: But that's everything may not know.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_01: But that's everything we do.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Nothing we do is actually like permanent, yeah.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so you change an individual at this point in time.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: But they continue to age.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: But they c things change over time.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: We're really we're really dynamic creatures.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Everything's changing.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: I tell a patient, you know, if you think about someone, and this is important, like going back to the kids, let's say an 18-year-old comes in and wants their their breasts enhanced, and meaning adding volume, using like a prosthetic device, you know, like the thing is like that's not it's not that's not nothing.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's something that they're gonna have to maintain, they're gonna have to have multiple procedures in the future, you know, they might have to have other things like a lift, reduction, they might have to have the implants removed, capsules removed in the future if there was an issue.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: And like that 18-year-old's got to understand that, you know, and and I think that we're doing a better job explaining that to them, but they need to understand.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: So then when you're doing that even younger, potentially, you know, that's where you get into a little gray area to make sure that they they knew what they were doing.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: But it goes back to this point though, and I think before there was this old concept when we would do like Augs, for example, um, and I hate the word augmentation.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think enhancement's a little bit better.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, sometimes some patients you really are augmenting and making them huge, but right now we're with the pendulum swinging, we're doing this refinement.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Personally, you enhance?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I enhance our partnership.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh he d he he distorts and di depletes their partnership.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um anyway.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: So, anyway, going back to this about the um the devices, like that's why I think it's really important to um when you go into these things with patients, like they just need to know the the s the significance of it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: Parents need to know the significance.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: And I I look at it, you know, selfishly.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm always afraid.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'm afraid, you know, the in the US we live in a situation where you know you have to be very cautious from a medical legal standpoint and like the practice defensive medicine and like want to make sure people really know what they're doing because I don't want to come back at me and say, You didn't tell me, you didn't do this.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: And like I can't, we can't guarantee anything.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: But what we can do is we can try to be honest, do the right thing, and be there for them.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_02: And with with kids, like the thing I I can't like look past though with these kids is like if someone has a significant like uh nasal deformity and they they you know, rhinoplasty is another one that a lot of people get at a younger age or when they're you know 16 or 18.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: DBA to septum, things like that.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_02: Different, you know, cultures actually are more likely to have rhinoplasties, you know, I don't have to name all of them, but that's a very common thing for people in their after their teens.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: But main thing is they need to be fully grown and they I think they just need to be consenting.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: And if the parents are, you know, gonna be handling it, then they should be a aware of all the things that can happen.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think that can be done effectively and done very well.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: But I just want to I my big I want to make sure that those kids want these things, it's not being inflicted upon them, you know what I mean?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that that's really important.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and I think it goes back to the the the first discussion on understanding the why right behind all this and really eliciting exactly the the backstory behind it all.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to kind of the most amazing plastic surgery podcast out there, HKB.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm here with my brother, Dr.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: Baharty.
• 9:06
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• 9:09
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• 9:12
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