Cosmetic surgery under 18 to be prohibited at Colombia

A probably interesting measure was taken lately in Colombia in order to avoid the -sometimes tragic- side effects of cosmetic surgery. A law that bans cosmetic surgery for people below 18 was introduced and if its actually adopted by the Colombian Congress, then procedures like Botox, liposuction, butt and breast augmentation will not be an option for minors. A few other procedures like rhinoplasty or reconstructive surgery are considered safe even for people below 18. And this won’t stop here (if the law is actually adopted). Using minors for plastic surgery advertisement will be also banned.

This is probably important because the whole approach towards cosmetic surgery is very unique. Every five minutes a cosmetic procedures is carried out while the beauty stereotypes and standards are very strong. During 2015 Colombia ranked 8th in the number of performed treatments (which is a huge number if we consider its population).

We should also underline that the whole culture regarding aesthetic treatments is different in Colombia (appearance improvements are quite acceptable) while the cost for such procedures is much lower comparing to other countries (from 25 to 40{f4e1575822752660c3387461b06f16047197db710b64f29e8565d582c3a8cd4f}). Also during the first six months of the year a dozen of deaths happened due to cosmetic procedures while almost 150 people were left with permanent damage. Senator Mauricio Lizcano introduced this law after considering all these facts, believing that a child is immature to choose responsibly and this may bring more unpleasant situations in the future.

We at LipoAdvisor have raised this issue in many cases and we believe that its not a matter of legislation but a matter of being aware and responsible for your choices.