Children having cosmetic surgery to escape school bullies, surgeon reveals

Girls as young as 14 are having plastic surgery to avoid being bullied at school, a surgeon has revealed.

Douglas McGeorge told how he had reshaped the nose of one youngster and fitted breast implants for others.

Mr McGeorge, who specialises in plastic and reconstructive surgery, claimed the bullying is so bad that some children and their parents felt there was no alternative.

He denied it had anything to do with teenagers wanting to look like their idols.

'Children are very cruel and there's a lot of stigma attached to appearance,' said Mr McGeorge, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.

But anti-bullying charities last night said it is the bullies who need to change, not their victims.

Mr McGeorge said he had already performed surgery on a 14-year-old girl's nose costing around £3,500 after she was targeted over her appearance at three schools.

Most clinics refuse to operate on anyone under 18, but children can have any medical treatment if they have their parents' consent.

Mr McGeorge, who teaches cosmetic surgery, said the girl's parents approached him as a last resort after other attempts to stop their daughter being bullied had failed.

The private surgeon said the girl's life had since been transformed.

'This was an unusual case, but the parents had been through every other option available before taking the decision,' he said.

He said he had also given teenage girls who were not developing at the same rate as their peers expandable breast implants to prevent them from being bullied.

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As part of the procedure, doctors insert an implant which helps to gradually expand the chest tissue.

But Liz Carnell, director of the charity Bullying UK, said: 'I don't think bullying victims should be changing their appearance or anything about themselves to please the bullies. It is the bullies that have got the problem, not the victims.'

Michelle Elliott, director of children's charity Kidscape, said she was concerned that children were receiving breast implants.

She added: 'I can understand a child undergoing cosmetic surgery if there is something specifically wrong that needs correcting, regardless of the bullying, but not breast implants. That's crazy.'

The number of teenagers having breast enlargements has increased by more than 150 per cent in the past year.

Doctors believe girls undergoing the procedure are aping celebrities who have surgically enhanced bodies. Statistics from three of Britain's largest cosmetic surgery chains show almost 600 teenagers aged 18 and 19 had the surgery last year.

Longing for different looks ...

• Almost a third of girls under 16 said they would have surgery to improve their looks. In a poll by eating disorder charity Beat, 40 per cent of under-16s said they were bullied due to their appearance.
• Girls as young as nine are encouraged to embrace plastic surgery and diets on the Miss Bimbo website. Users can monitor the diet of virtual dolls and buy them breast implants and facelifts.
• For nine-year-old Jay Paine of Peterhead, Scotland, the bullying was so intense he begged his parents for plastic surgery to remove a mole on his face.
• Spending on plastic surgery in Britain will total £1.81billion by 2011. Breast enlargements will account for a quarter of that. Patients can soon opt for a natural augmentation after stem cell research paved the way for using body fat.