Popular west Boca Raton, FL teen dies after breast surgery

[seafan]

Popular west Boca teen dies after breast surgery

By KEVIN DEUTSCH
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Monday, March 24, 2008

Stephanie Kuleba had a charmed life: captain of the varsity cheerleading squad at West Boca High, a near perfect grade point average, barbie-doll looks and a ticket to the University of Florida, where she would start her journey toward becoming a medical doctor.
Her friends said she was "perfect," so when Kuleba died Saturday of complications from breast augmentation surgery, none of them could understand how the girl whose success in life "was a sure thing" could perish in such a strange and devastating fashion.

.....

While no official cause of death was released by authorities or Kuleba's family, many of her friends said she suffered a severe reaction to anesthesia given to her during a breast augmentation procedure Friday night. ..... Kuleba was beloved by classmates at West Boca High, more than 400 of whom gathered outside the school Sunday night for a candlelight vigil. They hung Kuleba's shining silver pom pom's and cheerleading t-shirt on the fence outside the school and left flowers, pictures and handwritten notes beneath the display.

.....

In her reserved "senior" parking spot, the one where she parked her white Lexus every school day, friends placed more flowers, teddy bears and pictures. ..... Kuleba had brains to match her beauty, friends said, earning a GPA above 4. 0, acing advanced placement courses and earning an acceptance letter from the University of Florida, where she planned to head after graduation.

She was excited about taking pre-med courses in Gainesville. But the day she really looked forward to would come in May, when she would go to her senior prom for one last hurrah with her friends.

She'd just brought a stunning dress and made plans with a date.

.....

In recent years, doctors have been performing an increasing number of procedures such as breast implants, liposuction and tummy tucks on young women and even girls as young as 14.

The enormous popularity of reality TV shows like Extreme Makeover have fueled the desire of adolescent girls to alter their bodies permanently, and they are finding more surgeons willing to oblige them. Breast implants and liposuction are now bestowed by parents as graduation or birthday gifts. Some doctors say they have performed breast augmentations on Baby Boomer mothers and their teenage daughters.

From 2002 to 2003, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, the number of girls 18 and younger who got breast implants nearly tripled, from 3,872 to 11,326.

.....

This is incredibly sad, for so many reasons.

[Danger Mouse]

1. our society is diseased...and this is just proof of it.

the poor girl...

[BattyDem]

2. This girl had EVERYTHING going for her ...

yet she still believed she needed breast implants. There is something seriously f*cked up with our society! This is so sad. :cry:


edited: typo :blush:

[seabeyond]

4. pretty fucked up..... n/t

[Echo In Light]

20. It's precisely because she had "everything going for her" that prompted her choice

In my estimation, much of what comprises that "everything" is actually poison jive, corporate mind programming.

[lpbk2713]

3. It didn't have to happen, and that's a shame.

It's a shame how we let Madison Avenue and Hollywood dictate the standards of our very lives right down to what is the "ideal" in personal appearance. I won't be a slave to these shameless greedy assholes.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Who knows what goes on in the mind and heart of a teen?

What may seem "perfect" on the surface is likely quite different a few layers down.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. What sort of parent would condone this?

let alone pay for it!

[seabeyond]

7. what in our society is making girls think they want this, need this.....

i hear ya....

[tkmorris]

8. That's Boca for you

I have never seen so many people obsessed with their image as those in Boca. It is a very superficial place.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

11. Scottsdale, AZ is a close second then. nt

[WilliamPitt]

9. Rome.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

10. Ain't that the truth.

We are fiddling our way to our demise. :(

[SoCalDem]

12. Totally infuriating..

Don't young women these days KNOW that you're not necessarily done "growing" in your teens??

and why on earth do young women/girls think that fake boobs are attractive??

very sad indeed..

[seabeyond]

13. hmmmm, why? hm.... are you series!!111!!!!

geez, lol

look around you. it is all about boobs. the be all end all

[SoCalDem]

15. I guess, because I have more than I wanted, I never could understand it

they just look so FAKE..and ugly..

do guys really like fakes??



Why not just go REALLY fake ..and eliminate the surgery completely..

[trusty elf]

25. Do guys really like fakes?

Not this guy!

The thought of a woman's having some silicon-filled plastic bags in her chest gives me the creeps.

[WilliamPitt]

17. Boobs are good.

It's true.

*ducking*

;)

[BigDaddy44]

23. Thanks for the appropriate response

There is a time for levity, and a time to shut up. This is a time to shut up.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. I have only seen one set of implants in my life

And they looked absolutely ridiculous, they were completely out of proportion with her frame, they hanged off her body at a completely unnatural angle and she said she lost most of the sensation in her breasts and nipples. Now I never saw the originals, but I can’t imagine they possibly looked worse than the "improved" version. I saw her in passing a couple of years ago and the implants were obviously gone.

And I don’t suppose it has occurred to some of these young women that a reaching a HEALTHY BODY WEIGHT will likely increase their size and that you are not supposed to look like a pre-pubesent boy.

[entanglement]

14. Poor girl. Amazing that obsession with looks can actually *kill* people.

Feel bad for the parents too - they have to live with this for the rest of their lives.

[Berry Cool]

18. She was rich, she was smart, she was popular

and now, because her boobs weren't big enough to please her, she's dead.

It's a really sad comment on what our culture thinks is important.

[Echo In Light]

21. Should serve as a warning to the majority who abide corporate culture indoctrination

[a kennedy]

19. like mother, like daughter??? What had the mother done???

Plastic surgery can become a way of life for some women..... such a shame.

[babylonsister]

22. A gal I went to h.s. with, mother of 3 kids, stroked out because of

breast augmentation surgery. She was in her mid-40s, and is now a full-time resident in a nursing home. She never recovered; lack of oxygen? Very sad.

[trusty elf]

27. I have a story about a nose-job.

My uncle was in the hospital awaiting a donor for a heart transplant! His heart was in such bad shape that he was on the verge of being put on a heart lung machine. Bizarrely, at the same time, a young co-ed was in the hospital having a nose job done and she died on the operating table, due to complications with the anesthesia. I believe they were using cocaine (!) and she had a fatal reaction to it! Her family donated her heart to my uncle and saved his life. This was over 15 years ago, and he's still with us.

[hootinholler]

24. Behold the power of BOOBS!

This is so sad, little girls wanting to be grown up. It used to be smoking, now it's a boob job.

-Hoot

[Brewman_Jax]

26. This is sad

and shouldn't have happened. :(