"Good Morning America" continued its exploration of all-things-plastic-surgery on Thursday, interviewing seven-year-old Samantha Shaw, a first grader from South Dakota who recently went under the knife to pin back her cup ears and fix a fold on her right ear.
Apparently, the number of teens and children getting plastic surgery has gone up 30 percent over the last decade, with more and more young people resorting to operations in order to avoid bullying. However, Samantha told Juju Chang that she hasn't been bullied, per se. Her mom said that others have made comments in front of Samantha -- with adults being worse than other kids -- but confirmed that the surgery was more preventative, so that her daughter wouldn't get bullied in the future.
New York Dr. Steven Pearlman, who performed the surgery free of charge thanks to the Little Baby Face Foundation, strongly believes that any abnormality can result in torture on the playground. But when asked whether he actually suggests that children get plastic surgery to avoid bullying, Pearlman responded, "Well, it depends where you draw the line. If it's minor, if it's cosmetic, absolutely not. But in my book and [that of] most of the medical community, the plastic surgery community, ears that stick out is not a cosmetic issue."
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