See you in September — with a new set of breasts!
The start of the school year is the unofficial end of the summer plastic surgery season, as students return with new boobs, shapelier noses, prettier pouts and few questions asked.
About 64,000 teens get plastic surgery each year, and most of that work is done over summer vacation to allow enough time to recover or simply to remain in hiding.
“I don’t plan to tell anyone,” says one 17-year-old Long Island senior who got breast implants in June. She boosted her bust from an A cup to a small C.
“People go through so many changes at my age, anyway, they may not notice,” adds the student, who declined to give her name. “I just feel so much happier now, more comfortable in my own skin.”
Doctors say it’s no wonder so many girls are asking for adult procedures, what with all the work being done by role models such as Kylie Jenner, who had lip injections and maybe more when she was 17; and Iggy Azalea, who showed off her nose and boob jobs in the September issue of Seventeen.
“Between social media and reality television, nobody thinks twice about plastic surgery anymore, and it trickles down to the teens,” says Dr. Matthew Schulman, a Park Avenue surgeon who now gets 10 emails a week from teenage girls looking for Jenner-esque lips.
“That was virtually unheard of five years ago,” he says.
The doctors consult with the young patients and their parents to determine whether the teen is suffering from genuine physical or psychological anguish, or if they’re just trying to copy their favorite celebrity or take a better selfie.
“We turn patients away frequently if they have unrealistic expectations, or they are not mature enough to really know what they want and to understand the process,” says Dr. Sam Rizk, a Manhattan-based facial plastic surgeon specializing in nose jobs. “I also won’t operate on a teen who has a good-looking, functioning nose and doesn’t really need anything done.”
These procedures make for expensive graduation gifts. Injections of lip fillers like Restalyne or Juvaderm start at $750, Dr. Schulman says. Once you get into surgeries, where risks of infection and complications increase, the price tags also get heftier: Nose jobs cost $10,000. Breast implants can range from $8,000 to $10,000, and breast reductions between $10,000 and $12,000.
Nose jobs are the most common for teenagers, and many doctors see the emotional benefit of such operations.
“In addition to smoothing a bump, or altering a bulbous or drooping nasal tip, rhinoplasty tends to have a great emotional impact on teens, removing stress and increasing feelings of self-worth,” says Dr. Rizk, who performed 25% more adolescent nose jobs this year over the last.
One recent client had broken her nose a few times while playing soccer, basketball and softball growing up.
“It looked so mangled and bumped that I just wanted it fixed, ever since I was 8,” says the now-16-year-old patient Christine, who, like others in this story, declined to give her last name. “Everyone always used to make fun of me. People always asked me, ‘Have you gotten in a fight or a car accident?’ People always had to remind me that my nose was so screwed up.”
Her mother agreed to the operation as a result of her daughter’s battered self-esteem — though it didn’t hurt that the procedure was covered by insurance because Christine had a collapsed sinus.
“I think she’s beautiful, but it was something that really, really bothered her, and she was down on herself for it,” says her mom. “As a parent, you don’t want to see your child upset. And now, her self-confidence and her self-esteem are so much better.”
An 18-year-old San Francisco sophomore treated by California surgeon Dr. Jonathan Kaplan also felt defined by her deformed nose.”I had a bump on my nose. I was so insecure,” she says. “I wouldn’t want to raise my hand in class because I didn’t want people to look at it. It was that bad.”
But after having surgery this summer, she’s putting her best face forward this fall.
“I feel so much better,” she says. “People are so quick to judge if you get a nose job or something, like, ‘Oh, she’s fake,’ or ‘She’s just trying to be pretty.’ They don’t know the real story behind uncomfortable I’ve been.”
Plastic surgeons sometimes call themselves psychiatrists with knives, especially when they perform procedures on teens, which are as emotional as they are physical.
“Modern Family” star Ariel Winter, 17, revealed in “Glamour” magazine recently that reducing her size 32F breasts down to a 34D has been a huge weight off her mind. “It’s amazing to finally feel right,” she says. “This is how I was supposed to be.”
Incoming college freshman Kristin can sympathize. She developed DDD breasts at just 14.
“It was really uncomfortable to be in gym class. I had to get a $100 sports bra,” the 18-year-old says. “It was hard to find dresses and tops that didn’t look ridiculous. I hated going to the beach.”
But after Dr. Schulman dropped her breasts down to C in June, she’s racked up a new wardrobe and actually enjoyed her summer on the water.
“I’m really happy. Everything is looking great so far,” she says. “I look more proportionate, I can exercise better already, and I just feel more comfortable.”
And the coeds at her new school will never suspect she got work done.
“I picked a good time, because no one in college has seen me yet, so they won’t know,” she says.
