Should Kids Get Cosmetic Surgery?

“I am beautiful, no matter what they say.  Words can’t bring me down.  I am beautiful, in every single way.  Yes, words can’t bring me down.”

Christina Aguilera sang those words several years ago in her hit song, “Beautiful.”

And they’ve become something of an anthem.

Everyone has a right to feel beautiful.

And no one has the right to tell you you’re not.

Only, a lot of people feel as if they do.

And a lot of kids take those negative opinions to heart.

“Around middle school, I got teased a lot,” a girl named Orit says.  “I was sort of known in the school for, like, having the biggest nose.”

“I was 225 pounds at my heaviest,” a girl named Brooke says.  “I’d walk down the hall and get stares that were so cruel and laughs.”

“I feel that my ears are big,” a boy named Ohi says.  “(Kids) call me ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Big Ears.’  ‘Can you fly with those?’  And just anything they can really say to try and hurt me.”

What do Orit, Brooke and Ohi have in common?

They all had cosmetic surgery – at a very young age.

Those operations raise a lot of questions.

How young is too young for cosmetic surgery?

Should kids even be allowed to have it done?

And what does it say about our society that kids even think about it?

There are no easy answers.

But on Sunday, October 23rd, “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee” will consider those questions, on a show called “Minor Adjustments:  Kids and Cosmetic Surgery.”

You’ll see what Orit, Brooke, Ohi and other kids decided to do – and how they felt about it afterward.

You’ll also hear from doctors who’ve performed cosmetic surgery on kids.

“Everything has beauty,” the Chinese philosopher Confucius once said.  “But not everyone sees it.”

Consider that while you watch “Minor Adjustments:  Kids and Cosmetic Surgery,” the latest edition of “Nick News with Linda Ellerbee.

You can see it Sunday night, October 23rd at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on Nickelodeon.

(If you live in a different time zone, check your local cable TV listings to find out what time the program will be shown in your community.)

See what you think.