In my opinion, 14-year-old Nadia Ilse has always been a beautiful girl. But she didn't feel beautiful until recently, when the Little Baby Face Foundation paid for plastic surgery to pin back her protruding ears. I guess it would be hard to feel beautiful after years of being called "Dumbo" by kids at school. Apparently Nadia started begging for an operation way back in the first grade, when the "relentless bullying" began.
I don't blame her for wanting surgery, and, sadly, I think her fears that the bullying would "never stop" unless she had the surgery were valid. As a mom, I also understand why her mother contacted the non-profit Little Baby Face -- watching your kid suffer for years must be horrible. So on the one hand, I'm glad LBF stepped up and paid for the otoplasy. On the other hand, I'm not sure how I feel about the additional rhinoplasty (nose job) and mentoplasty (chin job).
The thing is, there was nothing "wrong" with Nadia's nose or chin. There was nothing "wrong" with her ears, either, except that they made her an easy target for cruel kids. In an ideal situation, Nadia would have learned how to love herself exactly the way she was, ears and all -- in your face, bullies. This was not an ideal situation, however (if ideal situations even exist). So the ear surgery ... okay, fine. (The majority of kids who receive free corrective surgery from Little Baby Face have severe facial deformities such as cleft palates, by the way.) But why "fix" features that weren't even causing problems? What kind of message does that send ... to Nadia?
I guess the most important thing is that Nadia is finally confident in her appearance: "I look beautiful, this is exactly what I wanted, I love it," she said. And hopefully the bullying will end now.
Being bullies, however, they might just find something else about Nadia to pick on, like the color of her nail polish or her clothes or the way she chews her food. Perfection doesn't protect anyone from bullying. Only self-esteem can do that.
Would you get your teen plastic surgery for an issue like this one?
Image via CNN
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Comments 82
Agree with country girl. glad I knwo who NOT to donate to... I have no problem what so ever donating to help kids who actually need it. But a nose job for a 14 year old? Come on.
Her new nose looks crooked. Honestly, the before is better.
I do feel her pain because I was bulled too. No one cared or helped me. A new nose would not have helped.
Now that her ears are gone, she looks rather plain. The imperfect ears were perfect. I think the solution would have been to empower her to stand up for herself and show her how valuable she is. If she still wanted the ears job after that, then go for it. The nose and chin was taking it a bit too far.
In junior high and a few years of high school I was teased for a lot of things (okay, I was bullied to the point of suicidal thoughts). One issue was that I had no breasts and my padded training bra was constantly slipping up so everyone accused me of stuffing my bra. And that could have been fixed if my mom had taken me to be fitted instead of assuming I was one size when in reality I was smaller. Now keep in mind that I come from a family of itty bitty titties, so imagine everyone's surprise when I blossomed one summer into a D cup. OMG the teasing that ensued after and the rumors that I had a boob job made it worse. Two years later, I settled in at a G cup.
My daughter is my mirror image and I hope that I have learned from the mistakes. And I have no issue with allowing her to get a reduction IF it's about physical comfort and not about teasing. Bullies will always find a way to tease. But I refuse to allow her to have a major operation which can impact the rest of her life (loss of sensation, ability to breastfeed, etc) to stop words.
In my opinion kids are mean and that's that..... I was made fun of my whole life because I wore good will clothes and I was always fat because of medications i was on as a child..... My parents did it the right way... Telling me God loved me for me and he made me this way becuase he wanted to... I am still a larger adult, but the bullying stopped when I became an adult.... It makes me sick that parents are so willing to just change their children rather than teaching them to stand up for themselves.... Yes bullying is no fun and it seems like at the time it will never end, but it will......
Nadia needs a different perspective. Maybe she should have gone to visit another country where young women aren't as fortunate as she is. Where girls are forced to marry and have babies at young ages and don't own their bodies at all. Some place where she would have to beg for food and have one outfit of clothing to wear full of holes. I'm not saying I don't empathize with her. I was bullied myself. I am pasty white and have an awful amount of kinky, curly hair. I was scrawny , boobless and had crooked teeth. Middle school was HELL for me. What those experiences taught me was how important it is to love and accept others the way they are. To have compassion for and appreciate those who are different. True self esteem and self love come from the INSIDE and grow over time. It is built and nurtured by the people who love us. The people who really matter. And in my house, for my kids, they know that their true self worth comes from God. If a kid has that drilled into them, their self esteem may never be broken.
I come from a family of 'dumbo ears.' No one has had their ears done. We're all fine, thank you.
I don't agree at all with the chin and nose job, but some of you must be blind if you can't see and understand why she wanted her ears pinned back. They needed to be. She is a beautiful girl and they were distracting. And changing your physical appearance is NOT changing who you are. She is still the same person on the inside that she was before the surgery just with higher self esteem(hopefully). I think some of you haven't been teens for so long that you can't remember just how hard it is to be a teenager. Sure, it is easy to say build her up, show her how valuable she is, teach her to stand up for herself but to actually get a kid whose been teased her whole life, that hates her ears to just say "Screw everyone else, I'm awesome just like I am" is not that easy. That kind of thinking comes with age(unless your born with "I don't give a shit what anyone thinks" attitude) and time and finding who you are and becoming comfortable in your own skin.