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Bullied pupils have face ops
Sophie Goodchild, Evening Standard27.08.08
A leading surgeon today revealed he has carried out cosmetic surgery on schoolgirls who were being bullied because of their appearance.
Douglas McGeorge, president of the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery, reshaped the nose of a 14-year-old girl from Essex.
He said he had also given expandable breast implants to teenage girls who were not developing at the same rate as others to prevent them being singled out by bullies.
Anti-bullying charities said young people should not have to resort to surgery. The celebrity-obsessed culture has been blamed for a huge rise in cosmetic surgery operations.
Mr McGeorge, a private surgeon who works at several hospitals, admitted there had been a lot of focus on teenagers wanting cosmetic surgery to look like celebrities.
But he said the reality was many were the victims of bullying and just wanted to look normal.
He said: "You think about children whose ears stick out, it's the same thing. Children are very cruel and there's a lot of stigma attached to appearance."
Many clinics will not operate on anyone under the age of 18 although children can have any medical treatment with the consent of their parents.
The parents of the 14-year-old from Essex let her undergo the procedure known as rhinoplasty after she was targeted over her appearance at three schools. The average cost of nose reshaping is £3,500.
Mr McGeorge told the Standard that the parents, whowant to remain anonymous, consulted him after other attempts to end the bullying failed.
The surgeon, who helps train doctors in cosmetic surgery, said the girl's life had been transformed since the operation.
He said: "This was an unusual case but the parents had been through every other option available before taking the decision. She was starting a new school at Christmas and wanted to fit in.
"I bumped into her later on holiday and she was very confident. Her hair was tied back whereas before her hair was hanging down over her face."
Mr McGeorge said he had given teenage girls expandable breast implants. He said young people develop at different rates in puberty, meaning some were singled out by bullies.
Under the procedure, doctors insert an implant which helps to expand the chest tissue gradually.
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."
Christine Pratt from the National Bullying Helpline said: "It is giving in to the bullies."
Charity Beatbullying spokeswoman Sarah Dyer said: "We don't condone the fact that a young person has resorted to having surgery to change something that is unacceptable as far as her peers are concerned.
"We believe the only way to deal with incidents like this is through proper preventative work in schools, especially with the new term beginning.'
