BSB Editorial: How young is too young?

It's all over the blogs: 18 year-old Filipino singing sensation Charice Pempengco is getting Botox and another fairly heavy-hitting beauty treatment in order to ready herself for her appearance on Glee.

18 years old.

Botox.

And a 30-minute Thermage "face tightening" procedure.

This irritates me for countless reasons, the least of which being that Charice is only 18 and couldn't possibly need to Botox anything into submission.

For those of you not familiar with Thermage, it promises "tighter, smoother skin, softened wrinkles and lines, and an overall younger looking appearance."

Charice is quoted as saying that she is "very proud to be an Asian, very proud to be Filipino," and yet she underwent the Thermage and Botox to make her "naturally round face" more narrow, according to what celebrity cosmetic surgeon Vicki Belo told ABS-CBN television. So there's pride for you, huh? So proud she wants to change a fairly ethnic characteristic. Doesn't sound like she's trying to smooth her skin or even look younger (is there anything younger than 18 year old skin?!), though. Charice has been widely quoted as saying "All people will be anticipating how will Charice look. Is she good enough to pit against Rachel Berry? So of course there is tremendous pressure." Well, if that's what's needed to "compete" against Lea Michele, why not jump in with both feet and enbiggen* her nose to take on that Jewish-Italian look so unique to Ms. Michele?

_{*Yes, I know this isn't a real word. I like it anyway.}

I'm sure there's a lot of pressure to remain perfect in Hollywood. I can't even imagine the pressure. But 18 is awfully damn young and at that age I wasn't even thinking about proper moisturizers, much less anti-aging strategies. Granted, that was the dark ages, waaay back in the 80's, but the point is most teens who aren't battling acne have little to fret over. A simple routine of cleansing, moisturizing, and SPF should help them glow and look as youthful as they really are.

So, racial issues aside (a large topic for another day), I'm curious to hear what you think. When is it ok to start cosmetics procedures? I'm not talking about truly repairing a deviated septum or fixing a drooping eye. I'm referring here to Botox, Juvaderm, and other injectables, along with other in-office procedures like Thermage, laser resurfacing, and so on.