Posted on 04/14/2011 8:49:09 PM PDT by TheDingoAteMyBaby
A 7-year-old girl named Samantha Shaw got plastic surgery because her mother feared bullies. The young girl has cup ears that protruded, and one of which also exhibited the condition known as lop ear. Did the family go too far?
The little girl had been teased over her ears, and her parents finally decided that surgery to 'fix' the issue was the only solution. The procedure is called otoplasty where the ears are pinned back. This is extreme at such a young age, and going under the knife is not exactly completely safe. There are many complications that can occur, and the girl's mother reported that the anesthesia made her daughter ill.
Little Samantha Shaw took her first plane ride ever on her journey to the Big Apple where she got her new ears from Dr. Steven Pearlman. The Little Babyface Foundation helped ensure that the little girl's plastic surgery was free. This group helps provide this type of procedure for children who need it.
The 7-year-old has endured being called monkey ears in her short life, and her mom said that adults were the worst at calling out the unusual feature. She was thrilled about getting the surgery and when she had healed, Samantha Shaw also appeared to really love how her ears had turned out, which is good news for her. It does seem like not being self-conscious about her ears will help Samantha's self-confidence.
What do you think? Were big ears that stuck out a reason to get plastic surgery at such a young age? It wasn't affecting her hearing, but her mother felt it was affecting her personality. The video below is the GMA interview about the unusual procedure.
her mom is the one with the issue.
My nephew had the surgery but I don’t remember how old he was.
When I was growing up, it was nose jobs.
My friend chose to have her ears pinned back and the bump taken out of her nose at about 18 years old, she wishes her parents would have done it when she was young apparently it is so much less painful when you are a kid. She isn’t at all vain, but she feels these were important improvements in life for attracting a mate and succeeding career wise. These are not expensive procedures and very routine, not what we normally think of when we think of plastic surgery. Why do we call it plastic anyway, there is no plastic involved? Doesn’t seem much different than getting your teeth fixed up or contact lenses.
I think it was probably the right decision to get the ears fixed. People in general, both adult and kids, can be really thoughtlessly cruel about other people’s appearances, and for a child to grow up thinking they are ugly is not a good thing.
However, I’d like to SMACK the reporter who decided to include the child’s name in the news story! For the rest of her life, whenever anyone googles her name, they’ll know all about this ears story. She should have been able to have the ears done and forget it. Now it will always follow her.
Got a source for that? My daughter has one, and my research hasn’t turned up anything about increased susceptibility to cancer, just some issues with bone development if the hemangioma sits right on top of the bone.
Maybe her parents showed just how much they love her by arranging for her to have the surgery. How can it not have been important to her if her every appearance on the playground is greeted by taunting?
Parental love is wonderful but it doesn’t get a kid through the day on the playground when his or her contemporaries are making fun of her. This surgery will change Samantha’s life for the better, and will serve as a lifelong reminder of how much her parents loved her. They saw a problem that was causing her pain, and found a way to fix it. I say bravo to the parents.
That means she could be President someday.
Coincidentally, that was about when I started losing my hair. ;)
I've had enough character building moments in my life. I never felt the need to be ridiculed over my looks, so it could help me build my character.
If that makes me superficial, so be it.
If the surgery was successful, I have zero problem with what the parents did. Avoiding bullies (or, more accurately, avoiding being teased - as calling teasing bullying diminishes what bullying really is) is but one benefit of the surgery. The girl’s self-esteem will also benefit.
Back in the fifties, and sixties, lots of kids got their ears pinned back. I think in the late sixties when short hair, and ponytails fell out of style, so did the ear pinning back surgeries. Whether you were a girl or guy with dumbo ears, you could just hide them under long hair.
Forgot to tell you that her procedures were covered by insurance because of the cancer threat.
Oh, please. She is a beautiful girl who’s mother had a complex about the ears, not the daughter. It’s the mother’s head that needs examining.
Glad to hear it on the insurance. I still can’t find anything that links “strawberry” hemangiomas to increased cancer risk, even from sunlight. I suppose that, since they are a form of tumor (although benign), being susceptible to them might also leave one more susceptible to other forms of tumors, but I can’t find anything that shows that strawberry birthmarks are directly more vulnerable to becoming cancerous or that resolved hemangioma sites are more vulnerable.
Of course, your child had them all over, which is unusual. IANAD, but to me that would signify some underlying issue that would increase the cancer risk, not the actual hemangiomas (which everything I can find say are harmless). My daughter only has one, and it’s (luckily) not on her face.
Hard to say except
- Her old ears were cute, better than her new ears
- Mom seems hyper-sensitive
- Her old ears probably would have grown out fine after a few years.
My sister didn't find information right away either. The docs kept telling not to worry but the birth marks were painful to her daughter, even to the slightest touch, so she didn't give up until she found a dermatologist specialist that had actually studied strawberry birth marks and knew the harm they could cause if left untreated. Now, mind you, most strawberry marks do take care of themselves as the child ages. We have a step grandchild born with a prominent one on her face and the maternal grandmother kept harping at the daughter "why don't you get that removed"...starting when the child wasn't even a month old! I nearly came unglued at the baptism over it, but held my tongue and put her in her place diplomatically. The daughter refused to cowtow to her mother and today the child is 2 and there is no sign of the strawberry mark. God indeed took care of it. But for persistent strawberry birth marks, you need to find a specialist who knows what they are doing and unfortunately, it is probably not going to be on the internet.
I think she was cuter before they were pinned back so far but I don't begrudge the girl getting the deformed ear repaired. The best part was it didn't cost taxpayers anything.
Read post 9.
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