Should the law of minor plastic surgery fever be taken?
Experts suggest that regulations should be based on the principle of the most beneficial to minors
□ Our reporter Zhao Chenxi
Because she was admitted to her favorite high school, Feng Zhen (pseudonym) finally completed a "big event" in her life this summer with her mother's "acquisition"-doing double eyelids, and finally through threading, her eyelids changed from " "Inner Shuang" has become "Outer Shuang".
Heart of beauty in everyone.
Nowadays, more and more people are willing to improve their appearance through artificial means, and they are getting younger and younger, and there are even many minors like Feng Zhen.
Statistics show that the proportion of young medical beauty consumers is increasing year by year. Taking the proportion of Chinese medical beauty consumers under 19 as an example, it was 15.44% in 2017 and 18.81% in 2018.
"Once you have plastic surgery, you will be beautiful for a lifetime." "If you can't be a schoolmaster, then you can be a school flower"...On the Internet, some plastic surgery agency advertisements also point to minors in a "timely" manner.
Faced with the trend of younger age of plastic surgery, our country's legal norms for minor plastic surgery are almost in a vacuum.
Should the law be used for minor plastic surgery?
Yuan Ningning, an associate professor at China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that minors are still immature in their minds and judgments, and their understanding of beauty is not mature. Plastic surgery is likely to bring physical and psychological harm to minors. According to the principle of the most beneficial to minors stipulated in the Law on the Protection of Minors, it is necessary to regulate minor plastic surgery.
Minor plastic surgery is mostly due to blindly following the trend
Because of doing double eyelids, Feng Zhen and her mother had countless "struggles". Every time her mother would give her many examples of plastic surgery failures and even deaths. Feng Zhen knows that “plastic surgery is risky, and you need to be cautious about getting beautiful”. , But in her opinion, it is nothing more than a double eyelid, which is not even a facelift.
There are many minors with Feng Zhen's ideas.
Wang Rui, a plastic surgeon at a public hospital in Beijing, told reporters that during the winter and summer vacations, the proportion of students who come to consult plastic surgery soars, and even reaches about one-third. The "relatively simple" double eyelid surgery has become a minor plastic surgery. "Getting Started Project".
"There is no'simple' cosmetic surgery. Any surgery is a medical act, and there are risks." Wang Rui believes that minors are not stable in physical development, and cosmetic surgery is not only unnecessary, but it will also hurt the body.
For example, girls like to have double eyelids, but sometimes they are single eyelids when they are underage. They may become double eyelids when they grow up. Early surgery is unnecessary; rhinoplasty surgery is suitable for people over 18 years of age who undergoes injection rhinoplasty too early. It may affect the development of the nasal bone itself; as for liposuction surgery, it is extremely risky for adults, and it is not suitable for minors.
Despite this, Wang Rui noticed that many of the students who came to consult in the past two years are not satisfied with double eyelids, but have begun to consider relatively complicated plastic surgery such as nose pads, liposuction, and even bone removal.
She had talked with some students and found that many people were affected by short videos, live broadcasts, etc., and wanted to become the "beauties" in the videos.
Feng Zhen told reporters that there were two girls in her class who had "moved their faces", one had eyes and the other had a nose, in order to match their favorite "female idols".
"Star plastic surgery is for work needs, and the exquisite faces in many current videos are even more technically'set off'. However, minors are not deeply involved in the world and will only imitate blindly, and even use a knife on the face." Wang Rui had patiently persuaded one. The girl in the second grade finally dispelled her desire to cut her bones and change her face shape.
Public hospitals are strict and private institutions are relaxed
Regarding many behaviors of minors, my country’s laws have set clear red lines. For example, minors cannot enter Internet cafes and other entertainment venues, and cannot purchase tobacco and alcohol.
However, the reporter noticed that there is no prohibition in the law regarding plastic surgery for minors.
Article 19 of the "Administrative Measures for Medical Cosmetology Services" implemented in 2002 stipulates that without the consent of the guardian, it is not allowed to implement medical cosmetics projects for persons with incompetence or limited capacity.
This means that if you get the consent of the guardian, it is possible to provide plastic surgery services for minors.
However, Wang Rui said that public hospitals generally will not easily perform cosmetic surgery on minors even with the consent of their guardians, because most minors follow the trend and parents do not understand the risks. The doctor will explain the interests to the parents. Dissuade.
In contrast, some private institutions are very "loose."
The reporter called a private medical beauty hospital in Beijing to inquire about whether minors can undergo plastic surgery. The receptionist said that as long as the guardian's consent is obtained, the operation can be arranged.
In addition, the reporter also introduced to reporters "intimately" that if the guardian cannot be present, they only need to bring the household registration book, inform the parents of the contact information, and leave the text or recording of the parents' consent.
As long as the guardian agrees, minors can have plastic surgery?
According to Liu Xin, director of the Medical Law and Ethics Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, this approach is too simple.
He pointed out that in the issue of cosmetic surgery, guardianship should be guarded against abuse.
The purpose of guardianship is to protect the legitimate rights and interests of minors. It is necessary to fully consider the pros and cons. For behaviors such as plastic surgery that directly affect the child's personal safety, simply having the guardian sign the authority to exercise the agency is worthy of discussion.
In actual work, Wang Rui found that many parents are easily "convinced" by their children, and some even ignore the doctor's advice and "stand on the side" with their children.
This also gives some institutions an opportunity to take advantage of.
The Civil Code stipulates that minors over the age of 16 who use their own labor income as their main source of income shall be regarded as persons with full capacity for civil conduct.
According to Wang Rui, some institutions use this to play a "side ball", as long as they are over 16 years old, even if they do not have the consent of the guardian, they will perform plastic surgery on their children.
Some private studios with doubtful qualifications even come no matter how old the children are, making it more difficult to ensure safety.
According to the 2020 "White Paper on China's Medical Beauty Industry Insights" released by iResearch, illegal production in my country's medical plastic surgery industry is still rampant. There are about 80,000 lifestyle beauty shops across the country that illegally carry out medical beauty projects.
According to statistics from the China Plastic Surgery Association, in 2019, there were at least 100,000 illegal practitioners of medical aesthetics.
Introduce industry standards to make restrictions
In 2019, a plastic surgery agency video advertisement titled "Surgery with ability, why do you talk more" swept the Internet, giving many young people who want to have plastic surgery but hesitated "courage", but it was published in this advertisement Not long ago, a 19-year-old female college student died accidentally during rhinoplasty surgery at Limeikang Surgery Hospital in Guizhou.
"The risk of cosmetic surgery is very high, especially for minors who are both physically and psychologically immature. The risk is even greater." Wang Jiajuan, a representative of the National People's Congress and a teacher at the First Senior High School in Liaoyang City, Liaoning Province, has been paying attention to minors for many years. Regarding cosmetic surgery, she believes that the law should clearly delineate the red line that minors should not undergo plastic surgery. She suggests adding corresponding regulations when revising the Law on the Protection of Minors, strictly restricting minors from undergoing plastic surgery, and treating parents and medical beauty institutions who violate the regulations. Severe punishment.
At present, some countries or regions have issued restrictive regulations for minor plastic surgery. For example, in the United States, many states require plastic surgery to be an adult over 18 years old; the Australian Association of Plastic Surgeons requires that people under 18 are strictly prohibited from undergoing plastic surgery.
Therefore, legislation prohibiting minor plastic surgery has won the support of many people.
However, no relevant provisions have been added to the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors.
In this regard, Yuan Ningning, who participated in the revision of the Law on the Protection of Minors, said that the law cannot regulate all content, but one of the biggest highlights of the Law on the Protection of Minors is that the principle of the most beneficial to minors has been clarified in the law for the first time. Take it as the basic principle of the protection of minors.
Article 4 of the Law on the Protection of Minors stipulates that the protection of minors should adhere to the principle that is most beneficial to minors. The fourth item requires that when handling matters involving minors, the laws of the physical and mental health of minors should be adapted And features.
"This principle runs through the law on the protection of minors, and it also establishes the behavioral principles for families, schools, and institutions to treat minors." Yuan Ningning cited minor plastic surgery as an example. From a practical point of view, plastic surgery For minors who are still under development, the risks are self-evident. Therefore, according to the principle of the most beneficial to minors, even if there is no explicit prohibition in the current law, the relevant medical and aesthetic institutions should consider the physical and mental health of minors and refuse to do so. Non-essential plastic surgery for minors.
"If a minor is disfigured due to congenital deformities, acquired accidents, etc., if it is necessary to undergo plastic surgery, it should be allowed to undergo plastic surgery with the consent of the guardian; however, non-essential plastic surgery performed only to improve appearance should be prohibited "Yuan Ningning believes that it is unlikely that the Law on the Protection of Minors will be revised again in the short term. We should first call on the Plastic Surgery Industry Association to issue corresponding industry regulations as soon as possible to restrict cosmetic surgery for minors.
Yuan Ningning pointed out that attention should be paid to cultivating the correct perception of beauty for minors and parents. Schools and society should conduct more guidance education such as improving inner beauty to alleviate appearance anxiety. At the same time, it is necessary to continue to strengthen the supervision of the medical aesthetics and plastic surgery industry.
Comics/Li Xiaojun