Teenage Girl Wants Liposuction, Gets It, Then Regrets the Surgery

March 2014 – Teenager Kate McMahon is upset with herself after getting liposuction, after wishing for it for many years.

Kate had developed a complex during her pre-teen to teenage years; with an early memory of her mother telling her she had “thunder thighs” in a store dressing room. So at the early age of 18, Kate went under the knife, and had liposuction surgery performed on her body.

Kate told ABCNews, “It had been something I was really ashamed of and embarrassed about for a long time.” In hindsight, she has many regrets on getting the surgery.

Kate McMahon is now 28 years old, and regrets her decision to “perfect” her body. In an effort to help other teenage young girls in having the same regrets, Kate wrote an article for Rookie Magazine, titled: “Out of (My) Body.”

Kate’s ‘Out of My Body’ Article

In her article, Kate shares that she has only told about five people in her life about her liposuction  surgery in the 10 years since. She wrote that she did not choose to have the surgery for health reasons, but for her, it was a personal reason of how she wanted to look. Kate said that she hated her own body. Most of this came about from constant comments from her mother that would say things like “you will eventually outgrow your baby fat.” Many of Kate’s own self esteem issues came from her mother’s persistent comments about her “baby fat” and “thunder thighs.”

In response to her article, young girls and women have contacted Kate to thank her for her article, and for inspiring them to love themselves, no matter what the outer appearance looks like. Kate’s goal is to help young women find some perspective and develop positive self-esteem.

Kate describes her post-liposuction body as this: “My arms were the same size, but with extra skin flaps, little white stretch marks and oozing scars…my stomach had loose skin in all new places and I couldn’t see my belly button unless I moved folds of hanging flesh away from it with my hands.”

What made matters worse was that this did not improve her relationship with her mother, who not only suggested, but also paid for the surgery. Kate says she “barely” saw her mother in the months that followed. Kate was sure to get approval from her mother before publishing her article, as she didn’t want to hurt their relationship or vilify her mother to readers.

Editorial Note: Positive Self-esteem Starts with the Parent

Kate’s situation is unfortunate, mainly because of her mom’s constant nagging comments, making Kate very self –conscious about her weight. Parents should love their children, and nurture them, and not badger them about things that they are not willing to take on as a parent.

If your child appears overweight, then it is the parent’s responsibility to show their child how to eat right, and exercise, and manage their weight in a healthy manner. Telling a child that they are overweight will not solve the issue, it will only create self-esteem issues down the road.

Kate McMahon is not alone out there. Lots of teenagers and adults are insecure about their bodies. It is not until you accept and embrace who you are, that you are able to be comfortable in your own skin.