It seems that the Premier of New South Wales has been reading his Flea.
Hot on the heels of Dr. Flea's post Don't Go Changin' on cosmetic surgery in teens, Premier Morris Iemma and his government are considering legislation aimed at making it much harder for teenage girls to undergo cosmetic surgery.
New safeguards proposed include parental consent, a GP's referral and counselling for teenagers applicable to up to the age of 20.
This follows a reported increase in numbers of girls seeking procedures including breast implants, nose jobs and botox, something that The Australian Society for Plastic Surgeons refutes.
Doctor Norm Olbourne questions the accuracy of the Premier's statistics and says that while there may be a few more patients, appropriate safeguards are already in place with procedures only performed following parental consent and a cooling-off period. Dr. Olbourne is concerned that the introduction of legislation might preclude young people who really need cosmetic surgery to safeguard their own wellbeing.
It will be interesting to see how this develops. One potential danger of the legislation is that it may simply drive such surgery off-shore. Increasing numbers are now seeking cosmetic surgery in Thailand, the Phillippines and the Ukraine, among other countries, and often with catastrophic results. Primarily attractive for economic reasons, such avenues may provide an alternate avenue for the truly determined but at what cost?
Resources
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