Pageant mom gives 8-year-old Botox and leg waxes

Remember the pageant mom who insisted her screaming, protesting eight-year-old get an eyebrow wax, enticing the little girl with a bag of candy?

She’s actually been one-upped in the pageants-as-torture stakes by a California mom who injects Botox into her eight-year-old’s face and also waxes the child’s legs in order to avoid “fluffy hair.” Kerry Campbell, a part-time esthetician, says the drastic and painful procedures are necessary in order to stay on top in the pageant circuit. Campbell also says the invasive treatments aren’t doing her daughter any harm:

‘I got influenced by some of the mums when we went to one of the pageants,’ she said. They were telling me about the lines on her face. A lot of the mums are giving their kids Botox. It happens.

‘I have a normal child. It’s not breaking her spirit. She’s happy. She runs around. She’s smart.

Some in the psychiatry profession disagree:

Psychiatrist Dr. Charles Sophy said: ‘When I first heard this story, I think my initial reaction is to be a little bit in disbelief, and a little bit horrified. There’s a lot of psychological damage that can be caused.’

Eight-year-old Britney says:

‘I just don’t think it’s ladylike to have hair on your legs. I did that one time. It was super, super hard. It hurts.

Asked if she would like to be waxed again, the child quickly said: ‘No.’

Is this kind of thing acceptable, even in pageants? Should little girls be subject to these kinds of cosmetic procedures?