Downs Syndrome Cosmetic Surgery

Great Debates
1

I just (and I mean ten minutes ago) watched a show about a couple with a child with Downs Syndrome. When the child was three, they opted for cosmetic surgery to remove the physical charictaristics that are associated with Downs Syndrome.

It brought up lots of questions. My first reaction was “That’s terrible, society should change, not the people that it unfairly rejects”. Then the parents brought up a good point. We do cosmetic surgery on all kinds of abnormalities that kids are born with, why not this one, as well? After all, the child deserves the best chances he can get.

But I still can’t agree with them. This particular set of parents seemed to have that “custom child” gleam in their eyes, as if they could make the child be everything they want him to be (and negate the effects of Downs Syndrome) by making him look however they wanted. They kept saying “We want him to look like his brothers”, as if they were altering furniture so that the set would match. They seemed fairly disappointed when the surgery did not produce immediate miracle results. You could still see signs of Downs Syndrome in the childs face, but not enough to pick him out of a crowd to stare at. The parents said they would consider more surgeries down the line. I just have to wonder if they are doing it for the child or for themselves.

I’d like to hear what others think about this procedure.

2

They are doing it for themselves!

I have not seen that lately. But I have seen that show twice. The first time I watched it, I was kinda agreeing with the family. I was thinking “Well if that’s what they want to do… bla bla bla”
The whole episode I was supporting their decision and everything. But when they showed the poor child after surgery all bloody and bandaged… holy shit! I thouhgt, “How could you butcher a child like that, you monsters!” I guess during the show I pictured everything happening simple and easy like the way the lady changed his face on the computer. She just did a little rubbing with the pen and everything was perfect. It does not happen like that at all. That child was so chopped up! From the father’s response, I dont think he expected it to be such a bloody mess either. I think the doctors were a little misleading.

I really dont have anything against changing his face to appear more ‘normal’. Plastic surgery is done all the time in this country. And the family made a great point about fixing other abnormalities. (Recently I saw twins conjoined at the head get surgery after their seperation left them with flat heads.)
But I do not think all that surgery is worth it! How awful. And the child has no clue why he is having to go through it. That is just terrible. Why put a child through all that sufferring. And he was definitely in pain. You could tell. And confused too. That child had no idea what was going on. He had that damn thing on so he could not touch his face.
The cosmetic surgery will not fix his mental dificiency. I do not think his physical appearance will help him at all later in his life. I think the parents dont want a child with Downs and they are trying to hide that fact from the world. This way, when they are in public, they do not have to be ashamed of their baby. Bastards!

Oh yeah, and the other boy who had like 13 surgeries or something, he STILL looked like he was ‘retarded’.
I know, sorry, that is not a good word but he did not really look like he had Downs anymore, but he looked like he had something.
The pain and discomfort of surgery is definitely not worth it to such a young child with Downs. Maybe if when the child has grown up and is developed, he choosed to have the surgery then let him. I am not sure, but didn’t they ask other children if they would go through the surgery. And didn’t they all say “No”.

3

There is a sad thing about Down’s Syndrome: The victims who really look like they have it will never be competent to decide their own fate. It is a disorder of the brain, foremost, with side effects in physical traits. So if the parents really want it done, they have power of attorney over their retarded child. If they put their child through numerous surgeries at the expense of his health they could, and should, be tried for child abuse. But what physician would perform all those surgeries? A person’s morality may be questionable, but malpractice suits are expensive and nobody wants to be kicked out of their chosen profession on bad terms. I can’t see much wrong with the parents’ actions. They are naieve and probably vain but those traits are not criminal.

4

I have worked with people who have Down’s syndrome and happen to have four of my own kids. They are all beautiful.

I can’t see what kind of faulty reasoning would lead parents to subject any three year old to cosmetic surgery. Perhaps it is their own vanity and how they feel they might be perceived by having a child who isn’t “normal”.

5

The people on the show I watched got the surgery at no cost from a “charitable doctor”.

6

For whatever reasons parents have the right to decided the destiny of their children.

Most parents give a child a name, a religion, and a point of view. How many Catholics (just for example) make their children undergo rituals for no reason.

If your little boy wanted to go aroung wearing dresses would you let him. Most likely not. Parents make and control their childred.

What about buck teeth…You can always go on…

I have even seen parents go on about how they’d never “ABUSE” their son by circumscising(sp?) him. However that same baby has an pierced earring.

Just really depend on your viewpoint.

7

The people pierce the ears of their male babies but they wont let 'em wear a dress? I have never seen a baby boy with a pierced ear. Or one wearing pink. (not that it’s impossible)

Also, I think the main point, at least mine, is that although cosmetic corrections are ok, sometimes they are just not worth it. Fixing your child’s teeth is painless. Ok, maybe a little uncomfortable here and there, but arguably painless. Piercing an ear? Sometimes the ears don’t even bleed. This is not a very painful thing. Look how many teenagers get piercings. How many of them would agree to having their entire face mutilated. Even the ugly ones would say “NO”! Sure, you might see a nose job here or there, but the entire face?? All that blood, mulitple surgeries, the pain and confsion… it is just not worth it.

Also, let’s not forget the fact that when an individual goes to have cosmetic surgery, they feel better about themselves and their better appearance later. (mostly)
But when you do this to such a young child with Downs, he is not going to feel any better about himself when he is 13 or grown up. He would be just as happy with himself either way. It is probably the least thing on his mind. He does not care how he looks.
It is the parents who care. Having an ‘ugly’ baby makes them look ‘ugly’. So they want to fix that.

These things do not have to be permanent. Nor do they cause any pain of discomfort. If a child grows up and realizes that the IPU can kick JC’s ass, then he can stop going to church. He will have suffered nothing.

But if my child required large amounts of surgery, lots of discomfort and bleeding and confusion and pain only to fit into a pair of Levi’s, then I would let him wear a dress.

I don’t think this is even close to the same thing.

Exactly! But mine is that this surgery is not worth it. I am not against all cosmetic surgery, or even all cosmetic surgery on children. But THIS is wrong! Going back to those flat headed girls I mentioned earlier. They have normal IQ’s and unfortunately can understand the ‘need’ to look normal in this society. Having their skulls reshaped made them look better in their eyes and made them feel prettier. It was done for their psychological benefit. I have never met a child with Downs who was unhappy or depressed about his looks. I can’t help but think the surgery on the Downs child is more for the benefit of the parents rather than the child.

8

This brings up the issue of where a parents rights end and where the rights of the child begin.

In cases where children are not able to make informed decisions it is the responsibility of the parents to make good decisions for the child.

I am an Agnostic yet my children attend a private Christian school. The quality of their education is of prime importance and they didn’t have a say in where they go to school. If one or both of our son’s wasn’t happy in the private system we might have to explore other options for their sake.

We had our oldest daughters ears pierced when she was a year and a half old. We felt guilty afterwards for imposing this upon her even though she loves wearing her earings. Our youngest daughter is just six and a half months old and in her case we will wait until she can decide for herself.

My boys and I will ask our daughter if we can give her a kiss or a hug, she will often say no and we respect her choice. Just because someone wants to give you a peck on the cheek or a hug doesn’t mean you have to let them. This teaches our children to respect each other’s rights and hopefully will carry on into their teenage years and adulthood.

There have been cases where parents have refused medical care for their children due to religious reasons, the children have no say in this and in cases where children have died the courts have been lenient and respected the parent’s rights. On the other hand a child has died and will never be able to make those religious choices for themselves.

Now we have these parents deciding that their child doesn’t look “right” so thay have cosmetic surgery done. I wonder what the childs view will be later on when they think that their mother and father didn’t like looking at them.

I can understand these parents wanting to spare their child from certain stigmas that people attach to the visibly handicapped, it doesn’t mean that I agree with their choice.

9

This disturbs me, it just doesn’t seem prudent to perform elective surgery on a small child for purely cosmetic reasons. It does seem like it’s being done more for the parent’s peace of mind than the child’s.

I’d like to point out that braces for buck teeth aren’t done for purely cosmetic reasons. It does make you look better, but it is also necessary to correct a person’s bite so that they can chew food properly. I had braces as a child, and now my teeth are starting to drift back out and I’ve noticed that it is harder to bite and chew my food properly. Guess it’s back to braces for me.

10

Even with Down Syndrome, a 3YO is not wearing the same face that he will have at age 6, then age 9, then age 12, etc. I have limited knowledge of the medical facts, but I don’t imagine the cosmetic surgeries are going to grow naturally with the rest of his head. So these parents look to be subjecting their kid to this procedure repeatedly.

I’m probably wrong about the above, but the only evidence I have that I am is of the indirect type: nobody here who mentions having watched the show (or similar shows) and seen older kids who have undergone the procedure has actually said that continual tweaking was needed. Also, if continual tweaking is in fact necessary, it would, as mentioned above, hardly seem in character for a doctor in the lucrative field of elective cosmetic surgery to jeopardize his career by participating in the venture.

It seems that I have not got enough information on this issue (of the child in the show in particular). Sven, what was the name of the show? Nenno, how long ago was the last time you watched it? How old is the kid now?

11

I saw that show. It made me sick. I wanted to smack that doctor when he said that the kid wasn’t in much pain. BULLSHIT. I have had surgery (though not on my face). IT HURTS.

I wonder what the parents would have done had they found out he had Down’s before he was born. (I’m assuming they hadn’t because they were willing to do this to their kid.) Some people will abort if they find out their kid will have Down’s. Or would they have been too damn self-righteous?

They should have given him up for adoption if they didn’t want a retarded child so much that they would put him through useless painful expensive surgery instead of accepting him.

12

I watched the same program some weeks ago and I’m all for the surgery. It gives the child a better chance to blend in with his peers and not be perceived as ‘funny face.’ Kids or adults who are mentally retarded but look ‘normal,’ from what I have seen, have a better chance of being accepted into society than those who look ‘weird.’

I don’t want to seem callous, but children with downs syndrome look ‘weird,’ especially to other kids. Adult victims of this condition are often judged on their appearance. Society has been fed on a diet of horror stories where the ‘weird’ looking man is the ‘deranged killer,’ molester, thief or rapist. At the least he is the bumbler who cannot be trusted to do but the most menial of jobs.

The surgeon did warn the folks about the immediate after effects, the pain, the swelling and so on, instructing them that it would be months before they saw the real change.

From the extensive surgery that was done, I would say the actual changes will not be complete until the boy slows down in his growing and his face reaches its more mature state. The bone cuts and grafts will have to fuse and smooth out and the facial structure will grow and change as he matures. (Little kids are all big eyes and round faces, then they start to get long faces and smaller eyes, by their juvenile years they seem all jaw and nose and by their 20s settle down to more balanced, normal facial proportions.) Certainly, even after the swelling went down he looked ‘odd’ but he did not have that predominate – and I apologize here for not having a better term – goofy look.

The pain is transient. Medications and TLC would help the child handle it. By the time he is 10, he will have probably forgotten it. The benefits, however, will probably change his entire life. He might wind up bagging groceries for a job but the customers will not look at him with some trepidation, disgust, fake pity or discomfort because of his face. (Hey, don’t tell me it doesn’t happen.)

People are cruel. Kids are cruel. I figure his parents just gave him the equivalent of a college education for a regular kid and have given him a leg up on life.

While the saying ‘beauty is within’ is nice, very often in today’s society it is beauty that is seen that counts.

We have several downs syndrome men around town and all work in menial, basic, uninteresting jobs. There is a normal looking guy who is big and heavy, who has a borderline moron IQ and he works doing basic jobs for the Parks Department of the city, makes more money and has a better time.

Yes. I figure the surgery was worth it.

13

To clear things up, the show was called “Skin Deep” and was on the Discovery Channel (or maybe the Learning Channel).

Judgeing from the clothing styles, etc. I think the show was produced fairly recently. The show did, however, show an older boy (maybe 16) who had undergone the sugery at age three. The boy looked fairly “normal”, but you could see some of the charictaristics of downs styndrome if you were looking for them. He still had the characteristic speech impediments and other signs.

They did not specifically mention a lot of follow-up surgeries. But when the kid came in for a check up, he had large scars on his eyelids from the stiches. They removed those on the spot.

When the surgery was first performed the kid was covered in bandages. He was cruseed over in blood. As time went on the wounds healed and his whole face was black and green with bruises. Six weeks later, the bruises healed and his “new face” emerged. The parents seemed unhappy with the results, saying the hoped that more change would take place as he grew. They mentioned that they would consider more surgery in the future.

I guess that is what got me. They said they were doing it so he wouldn’t stand out in a crowd or get stared at in public (I think that was more a worry about themselves than their kid). They wanted to spare him from teaseing, etc. After the surgery, he would not stand out in a crowd. He still had a few charictaristics, but it was not overwhelming. He would not endure more teaseing about his looks than a girl with glasses or a boy that was shorter than his class mates. Yet they were not pleased. They wanted a perfect boy that they could pretend didn’t have downs syndrome. They wanted him to look just like his brothers, as if children came in matching sets. They should have been satisfied with the surgery, and the fact that they wern’t leads me to believe they were not having the childs best interests in mind.

14

I am not certain that this is true. If I see someone who shows physical signs of a mental disability then I know right away to make allowances for their behavior. But I might mistake a person who shows no physical sign of their disability for a run-of-the-mill creep, jerk, or junkie and react to them accordingly.

I remember reading a story (possibly a letter to Ann Landers or something like that) about a woman with a retarded but “normal looking” teenaged son. When she went shopping with him he would wait for her outside the ladies room. Other women often assumed that he was some sort of pervert and a few confronted him angrily about it. The boy was naturally upset and confused by this. The mother thought that this might not happen if people could tell just by looking that her son was disabled.

15

My mom teaches mentally retarded kids. I do a lot of volunteering there. One of her former students actually had the surgery done, and I remember how furious my mother was with the girl’s parents. It mostly had to do with the fact that the girl’s parents didn’t get her permission to do the surgery. “It’s for their own good” is not a good reason. Depending on the severity, I doubt that many kids who undergo the surgery would understand exactly what they’re getting into.

Also, there are very distinct characteristics associated with Down’s syndrome. One line on their hands instad of three, a tendancy for a certain body shape… there are quite a few. In fact, many genetic handicaps have physical characteristics. Doing surgery won’t change very much- you cannot completely eradicate the physical effects of Down’s.

I think the surgery is more for parents- it makes their child look more like their version of normal.

FarTreker, anyone who is mentally retarded recieves quite a lot of help in job placement. Every state has numerous agencies that find jobs for and watch out for the welfare of mentally retarded people. Adult Protective is one of the agencies that comes to mind, but any given mentally retarded person can have 4-6 agencies that track them. Others are the Division of Mental Retardation and the Welfare Department. Someone’s physical appearence has very little to do with what job they are given. It’s a very complicated system, and someone who has the surgery is no better off than someone who doesn’t. In terms of teasing, a person with Down’s can also be picked out by movement, voice, and body shape. Changing facial features won’t change playground taunts.

16

I guess part of what got to me is the whole idea of doing purely cosmetic surgery on small children who don’t even understand what’s going on. It reminds me a bit of when I take my cat to the vet; he doesn’t know why they stick a thermometer up his butt, or stick him with needles, but obviously he needs at least occasional veterinary care. I don’t enjoy taking him in so he can get shots. I hate shots. I wouldn’t take him in to have his ears reshaped, or something stupid and pointless like that. It wouldn’t be fair to him.

Also, I just didn’t quite trust that doctor. Don’t ask me why, I can’t say exactly, but he was just too smooth. Making a child look less “retarded” isn’t going to make them BE any less “retarded” but think of the profit margin.

17

I am a mental health professional who specializes in helping persons dually diagnosed with mental retardation and mental health or severe behavioral problems. I watched the Discovery episode about this issue with mixed emotions. A number of my patients have Down’s and are indeed singled out because of their appearance. However, as others have pointed out, it also allowed them to be diagnosed early (for maximal rehabilitative intervention), and identified by others as being in need of extra consideration in light of their cognitive limitations. Both developmentally disabled persons who “look retarded” and those that do not suffer from prejudice subtle and overt. It has been my experience that although they may not be able to express their feelings verbally, they most definitely DO feel the sting of being belittled and judged negatively by others. Even if their receptive language is minimal, the non-verbal emotional message is clearly understood.

Although this is changing, there remains a false preception that persons with mental retardation can not benefit from mental health interventions and psychotherapy. It seems to me that the many thousands of dollars spent on the surgery would be better spent on comprehensive long-term psychosocial therapies that among other things, help the person with a disability cope with the experince of being disabled in a non-disabled world throught the life span.

18

I did see this show quuite some time ago, and I came away with very mixed emotions. On the one hand, I did get the idea that the parents were doing this for themselves as much or more than for their child. On the other hand, I felt very badly for the parents because they were so obviously (to me anyway) suffering.

I have a cousin with Downs Syndrome, and to be perfectly honest, he has always given me the creeps. Yes, I realize that this is MY failing, not his. I know that it is merely a genetic condition, totally beyond control, and so on and so forth. Nevertheless, it always affected me viscerally, and the inherent irrationality makes no difference. It was always a secret fear of mine that I could one day have a child of my own turn out with Downs, because I don’t know how I would or could react in that case. Regardless of the morality of the parents’ decision, I feel for their plight. Were I in that situation, I would be utterly torn between love for my child and the horror and heartbreak of having a child thus afflicted. Perhaps I would become a better person, and would be able to outgrow my emotional aversion to those with Downs, but how can I say?

19

Some friends of mine have a child with Down’s syndrome. When the son was about 26, he asked if he could have the surgury because he wanted to look more normal and fit in better. After much discussion, the parents agreed to let him have the surgury. In this case, it worked out very well. The son was much happier with his appearance—in the same way that a person with a cleft palate might feel after having corrective surgury.

I’ve known their son for many years and felt that, despite his disability, he was quite capable of making the decision to have the surgury. I’m not sure he would have been able to make a decision regarding the riskiness of the surguy vs. the benefits as he was very gung-ho to have it, and that is where the parent’s judgement and assistance was critical.

I agree with those who have said that a three year old can’t make such a decision, but I’m not sure the corrective surgury is a wrong thing to do. We may not be able to correct mental deficiencies, but we can and do correct physical deformities all the time. I don’t understand why we should not do this for Down’s Syndrome folks.

IMHO, to say that one shoud not correct physical deformities in Down’s sufferers becasue they are already beautiful is like saying one shouldn’t use a prosthetic leg because there is nothing wrong with being one legged. Well, sure there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s damned inconvenient.

20

We have family friends who have a 36 year old developmentally disabled son. He is at the emotional and cognitive level of a 3 year old. He can count to 10, and that’s about it. But because his disability is the result of a high fever as an infant (they think), he looks like anyone else. And this in and of itself causes problems. People automatically assume he’s drunk, because he’s happy 85% of the time, as any 3 year old usually is. (when he’s happy, he’s really happy. When he’s NOT happy, get the hell out of his way.) If he looked like he had a disability, he might get less of the unforgiving looks and snide remarks that he seems to have either gotten used to, or just doesn’t understand. He wouldn’t worry about fitting in, as long as people are kind to him, he’s content. It’s when people are hostile to him because they assume he’s drunk that he gets hurt.