Mother gives botox injections to eight-year-old daughter for beauty pageants

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 by: Neev M. Arnell
Tags: botox injections, beauty pageant, health news

(NaturalNews) Britney Campbell has been taken away from her mother, Kerry, who defended giving Botox to the eight-year-old girl last week on "Good Morning America." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/bri...)

On the show, which aired May 12, Kerry said that she has been injecting Britney's face with Botox to lessen the appearance of wrinkles and make her more competitive in beauty pageants. She claimed she got the idea from the many mothers in the pageant circuit who do it too. Kerry, a part-time aesthetician, does the injections herself and has also waxed the girl's upper legs.

San Francisco Child Welfare Services began an investigation into the situation the day after the show aired.

"It's pretty unusual for a mom to be injecting an 8-year-old with Botox. Certainly, it's grounds for an investigation," said Trent Rohrer of the San Francisco Human Services Agency.

The agency intervened because there were too many unknowns, like Kerry's training, where the Botox she used came from, and whether her daughter's pediatrician was consulted.

"She is out of her mother's home," said Good Morning America's Lara Spencer. "She's doing well. The case is under investigation by CPS and we should have new details within a week."

Kerry does not believe she is endangering Britney's health, she said during the interview, and that her daughter asked for the injections.

ABC News' chief health and medical editor, Dr. Richard Besser, does not agree that there is no risk associated with the procedure.

"If you inject it in the face and it drifts to your throat, it can prevent you from swallowing," Besser said. "If it drifts to your breathing muscles, you can stop breathing. In a young child, if you're chronically using it on the face, it may actually change the shape of your face because your muscles interact with your bones to form what your face eventually looks like."(http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mom-gave-daught...)

The number of teens and children getting plastic surgery has gone up 30 percent over the last decade, with more young people resorting to operations in order to avoid bullying or to fit in (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/14/7-y...).

There have always been children and teenagers who were unhappy with their appearances, but the past held a different remedy -- girls stuffed bras, and acne-faced boys wore shaggy hair. And with whatever psychological impact, teens grew out of or adapted to their bodies. But today, more children are turning to surgery and cosmetic procedures to physically change the body parts responsible for their angst (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-...).

Some parents and cosmetic surgeons believe that if the technology is there and it would improve the child's emotional well-being, there is no harm in it. Others disagree.

"One of the challenges is that there is not a lot of evidence that it improves psychosocial well-being," said Alice Dreger, professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. "The goal is admirable, right? Better lives. The question is: Does it work and is it necessary?"

Sources for this article include:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mom-gave-daught...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/14/7-y...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-...
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/bri...