Samantha Shaw, 7, Gets Plastic Surgery to Avoid Bullies (Video)

We need to teach our kids to love their natural bodies.

Even if we look 'perfect', which is impossible, people will always find things to nit-pick about our appearance. I was a chubby, ugly kid and got bullied all the time. It taught me to pick out friends who cared about me for me, not just for my appearance.

I grew up to be a confident, articulate young lady who values and takes care of her body. I encourage every other little girl and boy to take pride in their bodies, 'defects' and all, and to never risk their health just for aesthetic reasons.

I agree about accepting our flaws as character building. If it doesn't affect health, or the ability to do anything, why fix it in my book? I grew up homely too, with a broken from tooth, home cut hair and glued and taped glasses cause I was always breaking them.

Now I am one of the few people I know that is happy with my appearrance, and when you think you look beautiful other people do to. That being said, it's ironic that I have a cartoon avatar as my profile pic, but that's an experiment...not because I don't like my looks :p

I completely agree. I, personally, think its up to the parents to teach their kids to LOVE their "flaws" no matter what. If you are bullied, do what I do, turn into comic relief. My parents taught me to love myself, they taught me to be strong. When i was in school, of course I got bullied. I was the shortest kid, every year. In high school, I got thrown on top of vending machines and i wouldn't be able to get down without hurting myself. I also was hung on lockers from my bookbag and left there. They would carry me like a ball and play catch with me. I'm sorry but i never once thought about getting that painful surgery that is out there of making someone taller. What I did was stand my ground, made everything into a joke, and never once hated myself because of my shortness.

Unless it is for a medical reason and it MUST be done so you can live a normal life, then that is a different story. But to pin your ears back? Ok, you get bullied because of your ears... believe it or not, there are people out there that LOVE big ears. Yes, i'm speaking for myself right now. That's always a plus when i'm looking for a partner. It's what i notice first and what i fall in love with. If my boyfriend didn't have his big ears that stick out, i probably would not have noticed him and i wouldn't be madly in love right now with my Marine who is in Afghanistan right now. I cannot WAIT until he gets back home so i can play with his ears.

Basically saying, plastic surgery should NOT be the answer.

It was something that could be fixed and not considered cosmetic... so I side with the doctor on this one.

If one of my sons didn't have an operation at age 3, he never would have been able to be a father... so where do you draw the line... should he not have had the operation and probably lost the ability to have children, as any operation "risks" a childs life? I think he is happy he had the operation and can have children.

Unfortunately idealism won't usually get you too far in this world, and what other people think of us is often more consequential and important than what we think of ourselves.

I have to say, watching this video made me upset. Because I have that same "deformity­"- my ear is pulled back almost exactly the way hers is, but I am 16 years old and never once was I bullied because of it.
Growing up, my mom always told me that it made me "special" and that it was my choice whether I wanted to fix it. Obviously, I've chosen not to. It is hardly noticeable­, even when I pull my hair back. Most people don't notice until I point it out. I also don't like it when people ask about it, but I know it's only because they're curious. No one's ever said it in a rude way.

So I seriously think only the mother cared at all about this, and it is down right stupid. That girl would have been fine, and maybe even proud of it, the way I am, if her mother had been more supportive and loved her the way she was.

If surgery is unnecessary don't do it. I do think sometimes you have to make tough decisions as to what makes a certain surgery "necessary" or not. I do not think a child should undergo cosmetic surgery for something like this. Sounds like her parents are more paranoid about her looks than anyone else, and that will harm her self esteem far more than any outside bullying would.