| 12-Year-Old Girl Undergoes Liposuction |
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| Wednesday, 08 November 2006 | |
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The liposuction procedure was controversial, because liposuction is not considered a suitable procedure for obesity, but instead should be used for dealing with removing fatty areas, especially those areas that don't respond to exercise and diet. A more conventional surgical solution to Brooke's case would be gastric bypass or bariatric surgery. However, her family decided that this approach was too risky. The surgeon who performed the liposuction, Dr. Robert Ersek, of Austin, TX, commented "I don't think that every 12-year-old should come in and get a few pounds taken off by liposuction, but in certain cases where all else has failed, it can change their life to be a normal person." According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, more than 3,000 people under age 18 underwent liposuction last year, but 12 years old is considered exceptionally young for this type of procedure. Other doctors were critical of the procedure for a girl of this age and warned that it could establish a precedent. "We as a society need to reach our children at a young age and educate them on the benefits of exercise and wise eating habits," said Dr. Susan Obagi, of from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "I do not want to see this become a trend." "As those of us who perform liposuction know, patients with bad eating habits will oftentimes eat themselves into a fatter body again." |
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