Teen patients require extra attention to detail
in consent, screening to avoid problems
Expect younger patients to have limited focus, overlook details of risk
Plastic Surgery Practice advisor - May 2008

Major benefits possible for teen patients
Jeffrey Rosenthal, MD, chief of plastic surgery at Bridgeport
(CT) Hospital, has worked with many teenagers and
young adults and agrees that these patients can be limited in
their ability to focus, their willingness to discuss body image,
and their comprehension of the important issues involved. “I
have to drag information out of them more,” he says. “Some
are very willing to talk about it, but some are quite sensitive
about their body image and not comfortable talking about it
with a stranger. They tend not to be as expressive as adults.
You have to be very concerned with how you approach them,
what you say to them, how you touch them.”

Rosenthal also sends some patients to an adolescent psychologist
before approving the procedure to make sure
they understand the pros and cons of the surgery.
Clearly, some common cosmetic enhancements on young
patients are inappropriate, Rosenthal says. Providing Botox
or fillers for a teenager would be “reprehensible,” he adds.
However, he also notes that some cosmetic improvements
can have a significant positive effect on young people.
“I’ve done rhinoplasty on young men and women
and then had their parents come back and tell me that the
child is more confident, their schoolwork is better, they’re
just radically transformed,” he says. “I’ve also had young
people who had to stop smoking and drinking before surgery,
and then they never started up again. They saw that
they could stop.”

There are life experiences and there are life altering ones!
Which do you desire?

Body   Body Sculpting (Liposuction)   Tummy Tuck (Abdominoplasty)     Breast     Breast Augmentation   Breast Reduction   Breast Lift (Mastopexy)     Face           Facelift (Rhytidectomy)   Forehead or Brow Lift (BELL)   Eyelid Surgery(Blepharoplasty)   Corrective Ear Surgery (Otoplasty)   Nose Surgery (Rhinoplasty)   Skin Care     Injectables       Botox Injections   Fillers - Restylane/Perlane/Juvederm/Sculptra             OFFICE CONSULTATION FAQ's Patient Medical Information Form Patient Business Information Form       Dr. Jeffrey S. Rosenthal Fairfield County, Connecticut *Models are not actual patients