Non-Profit Group Offers Free Plastic Surgery to Bullied Kids; Is It the Solution?
A non-profit organization is offering free plastic surgery for children who are the victims of bullying. But is going under the knife really the solution for these kids? Dr. Keith Ablow and Dr. Michelle Yagoda, a plastic surgeon, discussed the issue on Friday’s Happening Now.
While Dr. Ablow believes that self-esteem has to come from the inside out, he doesn’t believe that having plastic surgery is all that different from parents who have braces put on their children’s teeth in order to straighten them. “I don’t see the big issue here. It’s fine,” Ablow said.
Jenna Lee points out that the organization is very specific in that surgeries are only provided to those with deformities, not to those who simply don’t like their features.
Dr. Ablow said, “The toll [of bullying] can be so severe that you’ve got to intervene if you can because we can’t change the whole world and if it’s your kid who’s going to be sustaining this psychological injury, why put them in the line of fire?”
Dr. Yagoda agreed, “If the surgery is safe, and the child is ready for it mentally and physically, then the scars from the surgery heal in just a few weeks, but the emotional scars from repetitive bullying can last a lifetime.”
