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Parents confident they made right decision despite criticism
12:00 AM CDT on Monday, June 11, 2007
PFLUGERVILLE, Texas – At 12, Brooke Bates was miserable, a 5-foot-5, 220-pound sixth-grader tired of classmates calling her "fatso" and of diets that didn't work. A year later, she's down to about 170 pounds and is thrilled with her new body and the changes she and her parents say it's made in her life. It might seem like a success story, but many doctors object to using liposuction for weight loss and on an adolescent. "What is out of the ordinary here is the age of the patient and the fact that the liposuction is essentially a treatment for her obesity," said Dr. Foad Nahai, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. "In a 12-year-old, the treatment of obesity is not liposuction. It's not a tummy tuck. It's a lifestyle change. It's counseling. It's dieting. It's exercise," said Dr. Nahai, a plastic surgeon in Atlanta. Despite the criticism, Joey and Cindy Bates are convinced liposuction was the right choice for their daughter, who wasn't able to shed her extra pounds through diet and exercise. Brooke first approached her parents about liposuction after watching a television program on the procedure. They were skeptical, but her father agreed to take her to an Austin plastic surgeon who treated him after he was injured in a car accident. Dr. Robert Ersek was dubious at first and recommended to Mr. Bates that his daughter change her diet and get more exercise. "He said, 'She's been doing that for years,' " the doctor said. Dr. Ersek removed about 30 pounds during a March 2006 liposuction surgery, in which fat is vacuumed from the body. A tummy tuck a couple months later removed another 10 pounds. Since then Brooke has lost about 20 pounds through diet and exercise, but gained back about 10. Teenagers account for only about 2 percent of the liposuctions performed last year, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "I think that the idea of a teenager having major surgery for a weight problem has caused some concern among certain people," said Dr. Roxanne Guy, the group's president and a plastic surgeon in Melbourne, Fla. "Each plastic surgeon should be able to assess the patient individually, but I don't think that we should send a message to teens to make it seem like it's OK to treat overweight with liposuction and a tummy tuck in general." Ms. Bates bristles when she talks about her daughter's lifelong battle with her weight. She said she tried everything to help control Brooke's weight, from trading the Southern-style dishes she grew up with for lighter fare to enrolling her daughter in health clubs and weight loss programs. She said her daughter's weight struggles broke her heart. But she credits the $23,000 surgeries with restoring joy in Brooke's life. "It was a miracle for us," she said. Brooke's health has improved since the surgery, her mother said. Her blood pressure is normal, and she is no longer pre-diabetic. "I still am on the same diets, I just can lose weight now," Brooke said. By Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press
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