More Teens Turn to Botox

Botox, anyone?

Teenagers freeze before they age

Should teens be getting Botox treatments as presents? If you ask the ones interviewed by MSNBC, they'll wholeheartedly agree. While it may seem surprising that young people are getting their faces frozen to stop aging before it starts, statistics show that more are doing it than ever before.

Dr. Glenn Vallecillos, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, explained that he sees more and more clients coming in for Botox at a younger age.

"We do a lot of Botox, and there's definitely a propensity for younger people doing it," he said. "I'd say 30 percent of my clients are 20 to 25 years old and probably 5 to 8 percent are under age 20. The trend, at least at our offices, is younger people."

MSNBC says that statistics support claims that Botox devotees are getting younger.

"In 2009, the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reported 12,110 Botox or Dysport (another wrinkle-relaxing shot) procedures performed on patients 18 and under (in 2008, the number was 8,194) while the American Society of Plastic Surgeons found 11,889 cosmetic Botox/Dysport procedures were performed on patients age 13 to 19 (an increase of 2 percent from 2008))," they explain.

One surgeon said that his colleagues noticed some teens coming in to get Botox because their friends got it, and while he thinks that Botox is great, he sounded a little troubled by the reasoning.

"I've heard from colleagues that kids are coming in with their moms and saying, ‘Can I have Botox, too? I feel like I need it,'" Dr. Mark Jewell explained. "Botox is a blockbuster of a product, but should a teenager be getting it? I think the answer is no."

Do you think that teens should be getting Botox? I think that teens shouldn't, because they could regret it later. MSNBC has a shot of one woman who has been getting Botox shots since she was 19, and well, no comment.