By Carey Hamilton
The Salt Lake Tribune

More Teens Opt for Breast Implants

Breast Enlargement: Plastic surgeons say 18 is the earliest age girls should consider the procedure's rewards - and risks

Believing her chest was out of proportion with her body, Brittney Winn decided to move up two cup sizes to a D last March when she was 18.

"I have bigger hips, so I wanted to make it seem like they matched," the University of Utah freshman said. "My parents were kind of like, 'It's your decision; you're 18.' They didn't really approve of it, but they knew I was paying for it."

When she got her $4,000 breast implants at Alpine Plastic Surgery in Ogden, Winn joined a growing number of teenagers who are under going plastic surgery, although they still make up a small portion of all patients. Increasingly across the country, parents are buying their daughters larger bosoms for graduation presents and some mothers even get augmentations with their daughters.

According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, doctors performed 3,841 breast enlargements on adolescents in 2003, a 24 percent jump from 2002. Only 978 girls had the procedure in 1992.

In late December, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons recommended the surgery only for teens 18 and older.

Winn agrees that girls should wait until they have reached voting age. So does Randall Barnett, her plastic surgeon at Alpine Plastic Surgery, as a general rule of thumb. Barnett has worked on a couple of 17-year-olds but said that is uncommon.

"I am familiar with one girl who was 17 who was accompanied by her mother. She was turning 18 in a few weeks," Barnett said. "If somebody comes in for a consultation or surgery and they are under 18, they must be accompanied by their parent. There are girls who are younger than 18 who ask, but they rarely make it through the door. They have to be a few weeks away from turning 18 and very mature. It just can't be, 'My boyfriend wants me to have larger breasts.' "

Stephan Ralston, a plastic surgeon in Ogden, said he follows the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' age guidelines.

"By the time women are 18 years of age, they're pretty much as developed as they're going to be, and the level of maturity is better," Ralston said. "They're not so giddy over having bigger breasts, and they understand the potential complications."

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