Cosmetic Surgery "Unneeded" Medicine?

Crabby Old Lady from Blogher thinks that cosmetic medicine is an unnecessary waste of a physician.

...The physician, who is described as clinical instructor in plastic surgery at a renowned west coast medical school where he is also an attending physician in plastic surgery says, according to the publicist’s email, that “there are cases…where the right procedure can turn a child around from being depressed to self-confident.”

Riiiight. A little surgical intervention will correct all those unruly, adolescent growing pains. And in case the surgery doesn’t lift her depression, why not drop some Paxil in her morning orange juice and give her a list of pro-ana websites to help keep her weight down...

...Might this doctor’s “acceptable motivation” in promoting teen and tween cosmetic surgery be a new Mercedes Benz? As the baby boomers age into elderhood in the next few years, it won’t be cosmetic surgeons they need and we can’t afford to lose more doctors to this unneeded specialty.

 and these counter comments from A Stitch in Haste

these are precisely the kind of pronouncements you would see under socialized medicine. Corrective eye surgery? "Unneeded" — just wear glasses! Orthodontics? "Unneeded" — that's cosmetic! Paxil? "Unneeded" — use talk therapy instead! Birth control? "Unneeded" — use condoms! Expensive end-of-life "extraordinary efforts"? You know the answer.