12 yr old girl gets lipo!

I didn't readthe whole article but I don't think this is a good thing. She needs to be taught how to be at a healthy weight by eating right and exercising. Their are programs out there like curves and weight watchers that could have taught this girl to do it herself and do it right. I think that too many people turn to surgeries for a quick fix and that is not thw answer.

This is upsetting to me on many different levels. 1. It teaches this girl that there is a quick fix to weight loss. After loosing almost 100lbs myself I will tell you there is NO quick fix. It's diet and exercise! 2. It sets a dangerous president for future girls. I hope that other overweight little girls don't get the idea that they can have this done. 3. It is a really dangerous surgery especially for a 12 year old! Honestly, she could have died.

I dont know, I dont think theres a reason for such a young girl to get Lipo. I have a little cousin who is 9 years old. She has ALWAYS suffered from obesity, and I think her max weight was around 130lbs, very huge for such a small girl.

Her mother put her on a well balanced diet with excersise and in a matter of months (9-12) I swear she looks like a normal little girl. I saw her riding her bike the other day and I did not recognize the happy, gorgeous little girl in shorts.

Just thinking about it makes me cry, because she did it and she is so much happier now. I think the biggest part of her happiness is knowing she worked for it. She did not take a shortcut. She lost so much weight because of proper diet and excersise.

I watched the news story and I was really upset when her father said they would not be changing her diet, just the same diet she has been on since she was 3, because she 'knows' how much she can and cannot eat. If she has been gaining and gaining all while being on a diet something in her diet is not right, and they need to modify her eating behaviors or the surgery will have been a loss of time and money.

I honestly see that little girl back to her pre surgery weight within a year or two

Well hmmm...

Ok... just because you are a fat child does not mean you will be a fat adult. Of course, it also doesn't mean you wont. At 12 I was huge and my mother spent all her time dragging me off to doctors and putting me on diets. None of it worked because I was just plain starving all the time. It turns out my body knew better, because at 16 I shot up 10" over one summer and became far too skinny to the point where my mother was threatening to lock me in an institution for anorexia. I wasn't anorexic by any stretch of the imagination... I was eating exactly the same amount as I had before, but my body had been storing it to use as energy for my growth spurt. So I just don't think the father thought this through.

On the other hand, I can't *completely* blame the parents. At her age I was also so hungry from the diets my mother put me on that, without her knowledge, I would take my allowance money, walk to the store and buy my own food.

So I was skinny through my teens until I got absolutely sick of listening to my mother threatening to lock me up for anorexia (I really wasnt. I ate like a horse... and yes, kept it down) that I ate even more and became a fat adult. It wasn't until I taught myself how to eat properly that I became a good weight for my height.

So no, I don't agree with the child getting liposuction especially since there was a good chance her body was storing that fat for a growth spurt. I also don't believe it is ALL the parents fault... tho absolutely part of it. And last, but not least, there are many things out there that could have been done way before anyone should run under the knife for either lyposuction or other weight loss surgery. What kind of example is that setting?

I don't think this is a good idea either. Even if a child is obese the main concern for a growing child should be that they are eating the right foods and getting good nutrition. They also need to learn to have a healthy, active lifestyle. If every thing fails, then other options can be considered once the child becomes an adult, but not before that.

I don't agree with it at all. Children that age need to be taught healthy eating habits, and they need to excercise, just like everyone else. Not only that but at her age it's normal for some kids to be alittle chubby during puberty. Her body isn't done changing and the lipo could have negative effects as she gets older.

It sounds like her weight is definitely a health issue, and getting it off her is warranted in this case I think. She will more than likely get counseling on eating healthy and exercise as part of her care plan. I wouldn't worry about that.

Plastic surgery is too often used to make women (and men) look younger and look like the "ideal" figure. I have more of a problem with the societal issues that surround that phenomenon than this.

That is so sad - large people and skinny people have roughly the same number of fat cells - it is just the size of the cell that is different. With liposuction, you are just removing fat cells and the body will compensate by making more - so as a result, you will gain the weight back. The best way to lose weight is proper diet and exercise - really, it is the only way and it is not very good for a 12 year old girl to be undergoing liposuction because she is still growing. I feel so sorry for her, she is not going to have an healthy mindset of her body image and her self esteem will likely be low.

This sounds good in theory, but in practice it will depend on the child. With some kids (myself included) if you "make" them exercise, they will rebel and find other ways to vent about it... like sneaking food.... and going over friends houses to eat... or buying junkfood off friends. And these kids have probably also been made fun of in gym class, so trying to get them into something like basketball may be near impossible.

With these kids you cant really make them exercise... and in my experience its been a lot easier to trick them into it using things like the Dance Dance Revolution video game. Even the new Wii gives a good workout, but you still cant force it upon them.... you have to make them think its their choice.

I say this only from experience and knowing how much I got made fun of in gym class and how much I downright resented my mother for forcing me to exercise and dragging me off to Jenny Craig. The more she "made" me do things, the worse I became. And I know I wasn't alone in this. Yes, this is a health issue and yes, something needs to be done.. however at this point the kid is so down about her weight and already feels like he** about it that forcing her to do something, even tho it is in her best interest, will bring her down even more. At that point the kid doesnt see it as "hey, mom is helping me this is great" and instead sees it as "mom is picking on me too!" Planting the idea and making her think she came up with it is really the only way to get things accomplished... and then be a supervisor, not a micromanager.

OK, so I read through the article and watched the video.

Her parents now say that shes on the same diet she was on before the surgery...ummm if it didn't help reduce the weight before, then it still may not keep the weight off.

Secondly the father ADMITTED that they trust her and that she makes all the food decisions (what goes in her mouth,etc). So how do they KNOW that the lipo wasn't just a quick fix?

On the other hand, there is such a thing as a "Fat gene". A friend of mine from college had it run in her family. Basically the body just turns everything into fat. She could have had that gene, maybe it skips generations (her parents were relatively thin).

If you're labeled morbidly obese, and NOTHING I mean NOTHING works, then I guess its OK...but I can see this as being a trend...what I mean is some itsy little tiny girl thinks that she has 1 gram of fat on her and BEGS her parents for lipo saying "The girl on TV got it". The way most parents I experience nowadays they won't say "No". They'll allow it.

I don't think this little girl could have gotten bariatric surgery, so it's sad that she was able to get lipo, but on the same token girls that age have been getting nose jobs for years now. Honestly, there was something I didn't like about myself at that age (which apparently nobody else ever even noticed, it was all in my head) and I obsessed and obsessed and finally had extremely minor "cosmetic" surgery when I was about 14. And I've been happier ever since, even though I was the only one who thought there was anything "wrong". IMO, being 12 is hard enough without hating yourself too. But, she and her parents definitely did not pick the best way, they picked the easy way and the way that won't be permanent.

I am in two minds about this. I saw a story on it on television recently. After watching it for half an hour, it appears that this was not a quick fix but really was a last resort. They had been trying to sort this problem out for YEARS. They had done everything (apparently) and nothing was helping.

Not only that, this had become the sole focus of this child's life. Her appearance, her social inequality because of it, her depression - not to mention her health issues - were impacting to the point where she lived, ate, breathed, slept and walked her weight.

They also interviewed the doctor who undertook the surgery - who basically said no for months and months and months until he had proof that nothing else had worked. He then consented to the procedure because he saw how much it was ruining her life. He maintained that he did it for health reasons and would still not do cosmetic surgery like nose jobs and so forth on people her age. This was a health decision for him, and the family and the child, much more than a cosmetic decision.

Sometimes, in medicine, choices need to be made that can be controversial. Liposuction is controversial because it makes us think of 20-something models or 50-something women who are doing it because they want to be prettier, or they don't want to age, or they want a quick fix. If you look at it as a medical procedure rather than a cosmetic one, then it is perceived differently.

Had they come up with a new name for the procedure such as `obesectomy' rather than liposuction, I doubt that anyone would have actually noticed.

I do not feel that any child should be allowed to have such a procedure....it is too risky. I think other options need to be taken rather than subject a 12 yr old to such a risky procedure...with her morbid obeasity and other health issues at hand- she could have very well died on the table. It's not worth the risk. Sure, it helped some of her health issues- but what happens if she gains the weight back after the procedure (which is what often happens)...and finds herself in the same position again...will they once again let her have lipo at say age 14? That's just not practical. I think that her family needs to work together with several doctors, dieticians, nutritional specialists, and personal trainers to seek the best course of action for her through exercise and healthy eating- not by subjecting a 12 yr old child to an adult procedure.