Plastic Surgery Banned for Minors in Argentina

Patients below 18 years of age will not be allowed to undergo plastic surgery in Argentina as per bill by lawmakers under consideration. The measure aims to stem the popularity of cosmetic surgery among Argentina's youth, in a beauty-obsessed nation where the popularity of such procedures has seen a dramatic rise in recent years. The bill's author, lawmaker Mara Brawer, said teens are more suspectible to societal messages that make it difficult to accept physical imperfections. They are also at greater risk than adults from the physical and emotional problems that can occur after plastic surgery, she said. An exception to the ban on plastic surgery would be granted to youths seeking procedures to correct physical deformities, said a text of the draft measure, which was formally introduced in the legislature late Monday. Whether to enhance the bustline or the buttocks, the popularity of plastic surgery procedures is at an all time high in Argentina, registering a stunning five-fold increase in the past four years, according to industry data. Officials said there are no hard statistics on what percentage of the industry's growth is a result of plastic surgeries by teens. Some of the growth, however, represents rising demand from foreigners traveling to Argentina for cosmetic surgery -- a burgeoning area of medical tourism. The elective procedures are far from risk-free: a former Miss Argentina, Solange Magnano, died in November 2009 of complications from cosmetic surgery. In a highly publicized case, Magnano died from a pulmonary embolism following buttock implant surgery.

Source-AFP