Here’s a fun (and slightly disturbing) fact: plastic surgery has been around since the Bronze Age.
The earliest transcripts of surgical tinkering date back to around 3,000 BC, where an Ancient Egyptian medical text dubbed the ‘Edwin Smith Papyrus’ gives directions on how to repair a broken nose.
Fast forward to 800 BC, and Indian surgeon Sushrata was instructing his students on reconstructing noses, genitalia, earlobes and more that had been mutilated for religious or legal punishment.
Um, do you think they had anaesthetic?
And onwards we marched through history, playing with knives, noses, and new looks.
By 1923, the first modern rhinoplasty procedure took place, and in 1962, American Timmie Jean Lindsey received the first ever silicone breast implant.
The rest, as they say, was history.
Younger sister Lucy has a slightly different story to tell.
She was 18 when she had the operation, and notes that her body actually ended up changing so much that they have almost grown to the same size they were pre-op.
At the same age as Modern Family actress Ariel Winter when she got her operation, she too was sick of constantly being made to feel awkward for her large chest.
"I don't regret it, I wish the timing was different." says Lucy.
"I loved not being identified as just my boobs - leaving the labels of 'tits magee' was excellent, but my body was still growing then and in fact my breasts have pretty much almost grown back to size! I didn't expect that to happen I think. I think if I had done the surgery a few years later, the long term results would be better."
Cosmetic surgery with a medical reason is one thing. But what about teen procedures that aren't exactly necessary?
Kate, 29, had her ears pinned back when she was 15.
After years and years of merciless teasing, her confidence was shot.
"I never wore my hair up because of my ears," remembers Kate, "but I did once when I was six. That day, a guy who was about 15 and the 'cool' guy, told me I was really ugly. From that day forward I always wore my hair down to cover them up."
"But then, when it was done [the surgery], I felt much better and dared to wear my hair as I chose to."
This isn't a new story: most of us will know at least one person who had a minor operation as a teen that saw their confidence soar. From Lucy and Amy's breast surgery, to Kate's ear procedure, there is no doubt that a 'cooling off' period wouldn't be necessary for some teens.
But for others, it saved a major mistake.
Amanda Lepore has had decades of plastic surgery work.
26-year-old Jake came close to surgery as a teen.
Young, gay, and suffering from acne; Jake was eternally unhappy with what he saw in the mirror. Thankfully, the closest he came to body-modification was heavy make-up and outrageous wardrobe.
"I had horribly low self esteem for most of my teenage years, and battled with really bad acne for ages," he says.
"I never had nice skin, and from very young (maybe 15) I was very vain. I actually fear that I would've done a lot when I was that young. I would've had a nose job....probably had laser on my skin. I actually felt really good about who I was when I was a child, but never compared my physical self to others, but when I hit adolescence it was a problem I guess."
Jake is thankful, ten years down the track, that he persevered through difficult times and learnt to accept who he was."I think I'd also have been emotionally a different person if I had gone down the path of cosmetic surgery. I don't think that a nose job actually would have made me happy with my appearance at all.. And so I think it would have led to other procedures.. Other "faults" that I could fix."Jocelyn Wildenstein.
From the Bronze Ages to now, the human body has intrigued and impressed at it's ability to be chopped and changed, and still bounce back. But where do we stop?
I mean, you only need to look to celebs like Michael Jackson, Jocelyn Wildenstein, Amanda Lepore, and more recently Lil' Kim, to fully understand how far an individual is actually able to go when it comes to changing their appearance.
And whilst it is rare for someone to become so fully addicted to cosmetic surgery that, well, their nose falls off; there is no doubt that it's a slippery slope when you start in your teens.
So without closing the door on young people who have their lives changed positively by cosmetic procedures, let's catch the others before it's too late.
*Name changed for privacy reasons.