Common Reasons for Breast Augmentation in Teenage Patients

Although the FDA restricts use of breast implants in women that are not yet over the age of 18, plastic surgeons do perform the procedure on a small number of teenage patients. According to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 2,953 breast augmentation surgeries were performed on patients under the age of 18 in 2009. This accounted for less than 1 percent of all breast augmentation procedures performed that year. In about 40 percent of patients, plastic surgeons performed bilateral breast augmentation solely for cosmetic reasons. In the remaining cases, plastic surgeons performed breast augmentation to correct certain breast conditions.

• Severe asymmetry: 24 percent
• Severe underdevelopment: 12 percent
• Tubular breast deformities: 10 percent
• Poland’s syndrome (congenitally absent breast): 10 percent
• Other reasons: 4 percent

Many women suffer from breast asymmetry (the condition in which the breasts are two different sizes), tubular breasts (the condition in which the breasts have a tubular shape), and underdevelopment. These issues can cause self-confidence problems for young girls and teens. Poland’s syndrome is a rare birth defect in which an individual is born without the pectoralis muscle in one breast. All of these breast conditions can be corrected with breast augmentation surgery.