Board Certified Plastic Surgeon - What’s It Really All About
Plastic Surgeon, Plastic Surgery
In cosmetic plastic surgery, some surgeons advertise that they are “board certified.”
Well, what is this board and what is certified? And, what does it all mean to you, a potential plastic surgery patient?
Here’s the short take: consider board certification a huge safety net. A board certified plastic surgeon has been tested by the best.
The American Board of Plastic Surgery is a group of highly experienced plastic surgeons; many are university professors at leading medical schools. They know plastic surgery inside and out.
Surgeons who want to be board certified must:
• Already be an M.D.
• Have from five to seven years training in a residency plastic surgery program
• Present about two years of surgical cases to the board
And then the grilling starts.
A board member is designated to each surgeon accepted for testing. He or she will review all of the doctor’s cases in great detail.
The examiners quiz and query on the finest medical points and procedures, asking each if he or she would have done anything differently or used another approach. Sometimes, they ask why an approach, technique or procedure was used at all.
Not only must the applicant pass the oral testing, he/she must take a comprehensive written test that covers all aspects of plastic surgery.
In addition, the board takes a serious look at the applicant’s business and advertising practices and investigates his or her moral character.
So, back to what board certification means to you.
If your plastic surgeon had all the extra training and experience to become board certified, he or she has basically seen it all. Any licensed M.D. can take a course over several weekends and learn how to do, say, a basic breast augmentation or liposuction procedure.
But is that doctor going to know the top seven or eight things that can cause complications? And then know how to remedy each?
Because the plastic surgeon really knows his stuff, he is going to disturb less tissue while operating. That means less pain, swelling, and bruising and blood loss for you and much faster healing. So you can go return to work sooner.
California Surgical Institute @ November 14, 2008
Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Matt Hanson
Very informative, and it’s very encourageing to see a clinic that has gone to some trouble to communicate their understanding of the fears and interests of their potential clients. Marketing is quite common, but displaying your knowledge and experience is a different thing from simple salesmanship or fear mongering. My wife and I have been looking for the best possible place to get her cheeks (jowles, I think they’re called) pulled back. She’s only 57 and has unusually low cheeks. I like your approach. We’ll be in touch.
[...] so many excellent board-certified plastic surgeons in Pasadena and the rest of Southern California, did you ever wonder why [...]
[...] Not to digress, but it underscores the need to always, always check on the education and training of a cosmetic surgeon. (See our post on checking a doctor’s credentials.) [...]