Writing in the February, 2009, issue of the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, a professional magazine for cosmetic plastic surgeons in the British Isles, two plastic surgeon staffers at University Hospital of North Staffordshire in England studied 101 ear pinning patients.

The subjects ranged in age from 5 to 16 and were asked how otoplasty affected their lives.

Results?

• 100 percent reported no more bullying
• 97 percent said they were happier
• 92 percent had more self-confidence

The study was important for plastic surgery patients and surgeons, parents and other taxpayers because the National Health Service (NHS) in England sometimes pays for cosmetic plastic surgery to stop childhood bullying . (Read more about the otoplasty for children study.)

But, cosmetic plastic surgery to stop bullying in the United Kingdom (U.K.) is nothing new where teasing, taunting and bullying are taken very seriously.

Recently, the Mr. Douglas McGeorge, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) told how child bullying victims have also been given rhinoplasty and breast augmentation to stop teasing and bullying about appearance.

Usually, U.K. plastic surgery clinics don’t perform surgery on anyone under 18, but the exceptions are made for children who have changed schools several times and are pummeled due to some physical mar. (Read more from a British newspaper about anti-bully plastic surgery.)

When a girl as young  as 14 has breast augmentation, according to Mr. McGeorge, they are given expandable breast implants. (English physicians are called “Mr.”)

Expandable breast implants can grow with a maturing lass because more saline can be added to the implants without another operation to  remove them. (More about expandable breast implants.)

Yet another case of a nine-year-old with a huge mole on his face gained nationwide news coverage in 2007. The child was often beaten up, taunted about his appearance and had changed schools three times to get away from the torment.

Statistics from BAAPS reveals that teens having breast enlargement in the U.K. increased by about 150 percent in the past year.

Do you think the United States should take bullying as seriously as they do in the UK?

• Extraordinary good looks
• Chiseled, perfect facial features
• Ultra -toned bodies
• Flawless complexions

No, not a model’s convention or even looking through the books of plastic surgery before and after pictures in a surgeon’s office.

You are probably at the movies!

Beverly Hills is often regarded as the world Mecca of plastic surgery because it sits cheek-by-jowl with the U.S. entertainment industry.

You know, Tinsel Town!

Even less than perfect celebrity plastic surgery has found a marketplace in tabloids of the world, with websites and magazines showing graphic pictures when plastic surgery goes wrong on the world’s most popular faces and bodies.

In an industry where appearance is everything,  Hollywood Knives, a major documentary on BBC1 (British Broadcasting Corporation Channel 1) dug behind the scenes, interviewed top plastic surgeons, former spouses of stars and others to reveal what plastic surgeries major movie performers have had.

What did they find?

• Screen legend Marilyn Monroe had a chin implant after a photographer  called her a “chinless wonder.” Two weeks later, she got her first movie roll.
• Rita Hayworth had a full face lift in the 1960s, just as she was starting to show the effects of Alzheimer’s Disease.
• Clark Gable had ear pinning (otoplasty) and his teeth fixed.
• Burt Lancaster had a facelift.
• Dean Martin had rhinoplasty to make his nose straighter and narrower.
• Gary Cooper had a face lift and a double chin slimmed through neck surgery at age 53.
• John Wayne: neck surgery, face lift and upper eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), also in his 50s.
• Frank Sinatra, born in a forceps delivery that caused scarring on his neck and removed part of his left earlobe, had the scars removed in his 60s, along with a facelift and jowl surgery.

NEXT: How Hollywood Stars have Plastic Surgery in Secret!

Fans were delighted when top NASCAR driver Kurt Bush decided to have otoplasty, the plastic surgery procedure that brings prominent, outstanding ears closer to the patient’s skull. The procedure is also known as “ear pinning.”

(Look at Busch’s ear pinning before and after pictures.)

Just after his procedure, Busch married his long-time girlfriend Eva Bryan.

Cosmetic plastic surgery just before marriage ceremonies is very common because people want to pass down the wedding photos for generations.

But the 30-year-old Busch probably could have had the procedure 24 years ago. Plastic surgeons say that children as young as six can have the procedure.

It’s often done before the child starts school because other children often tease them mercilessly.

About five percent of the population has some form of ears that stick out.

And even though children with large, protruding ears are made miserable in school, most health plans will not pay for the surgery because many insurers consider the procedure strictly cosmetic.

What do you think? Should health plans be required to pay for  otoplasty for children?

Next time: cosmetic surgical procedures that many health plans do pay for.