Liposuction and Plastic Surgery Information - President Chavez lashes out at teen surgery. Surgeon suggests he "just shut up".

President Chavez lashes out at teen surgery. Surgeon suggests he "just shut up".

Thursday, 22 November 2007

Venezuela's idiosyncratic president, Hugo Chavez, who was recently told to "just shut up" by the Spanish King, has found a new target for his anger and has lashed out at the growing trend for Venezuelan teens to improve their appearance through cosmetic surgery.

Speaking on his weekly TV show, where he delivers his wisdom to the Venezuelan people, Chavez said:

Now some people think, 'My daughter's turning 15, let's give her breast enlargements.' That's horrible. It's the ultimate degeneration.

Enthralled viewers were treated to many other wisdoms, in a show that lasted a record eight hours.

Venezuela is famous for its beauty queens, who regularly win world beauty titles. Aspiration to beauty is culturally ingrained and it is not uncommon for girls to aspire to being beauty queens when they grow up. Many women in the oil-rich country undergo cosmetic surgery, and it is traditional to celebrate a girl's coming-of-age at 15. Consequently, there has been an increasing trend for girls to be given gifts of cosmetic surgery by their families when they reach this point in their lives.

While acknowledging that plastic surgery for aesthetic purposes may be unsuitable for teenagers whose bodies are still developing, one cosmetic surgeon, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that a blanket condemnation of cosmetic surgery was unhelpful, adding that there are some aesthetic procedures, such as for prominent ears or facial disfigurement, that are hugely beneficial for teenagers, restoring their self confidence.

The surgeon added,

Certainly, I would be wary of performing breast augmentation surgery on a young teenage girl, since it is likely that her breasts will continue to develop until her late teens, but for President Chavez to criticize all cosmetic surgery for teenagers like he did is nonsense. Maybe he should just shut up.

Tags: breast augmentation, breast implants,