Liposuction and Children

Liposuction shouldn't be an easy option for children to take a few pounds of weight off their bodies (Credit: ibanda)

Childhood can be a tough place for an overweight child. Other children can make them feel like aliens with cruel words, laughter and cold stares. Like Charlie, an 8-year-old says, “I’m like the prey. People come after me because I’m fat.” Susan a 10-year-old with weight problems says that she feels like a balloon and can never make friends because “no body wants to be friends with a fat girl”.

 Brooke Bates of Austin, Tex, sprang into news by getting a liposuction to rid herself of 35 pounds. Brooke has struggled with her weight since early childhood and continued expanding, irrespective of the countless diets that she tried. By age 12, at 5-foot-5, she weighed a shocking 220 pounds. Feeling helpless and isolated, Brook and her family decided on liposuction.

Dr. Robert Ersek, a leading plastic surgeon in Austin, performed the surgery on Brooke. He feels that this shouldn’t be an easy option for children to take a few pounds of weight off their bodies; but in certain cases, when all else has failed, then liposuction can help them get a normal and healthier life.

Other doctors haven’t been too thrilled with this because they feel that Brooke’s liposuction will send the wrong message to overweight kids and teens who might think that liposuction and abdinoplasty are accepted methods of reducing weight. Some feel that children with bad eating habits will eat themselves into fatter bodies again.

Experts say that cosmetic surgery can have a positive impact only if the patient has reached physical development and are psychologically healthy.