It is important to research your plastic surgeon. It is perfectly legal for any doctor to
perform plastic surgery in their office. This is why you must be careful in choosing a
qualified surgeon.
It is important that the American Board of Plastic Surgery certifies your plastic surgeon.
Physicians who are boarded by the ABPS have had at least 3 to 6 years of General Surgery
and additional 2 or 3 years training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. This is a lot
of training over many years. This training is important to your safety!
The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the only plastic surgery board recognized by the
American Board of Medical Specialties which has been around for since 1933 certifying all
surgeons as well as all other surgeons including Cardiac Surgeons and Orthopedic Surgeons
and other specialties keeping you safe and ensuring you are operated upon by an approved,
well trained surgeon. http://www.abms.org/
Once "Board Certified" by the American Board of Plastic Surgery your plastic surgeon
becomes eligible to become a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
Many "plastic surgeons" have certificates from weekend courses and other non-standard
training that is not approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties. These
"plastic surgeons" understand that patients now look for "board certification" and
have come up with non-approved "board organizations" to give them "boards" that can be
displayed and promoted to legitimize their non-approved training or lack of training to
the consumer. Any "board" with the word COSMETIC in it is not approved by the American
Board of Medical Specialties!
Also it is important to see if your plastic surgeon has privileges to perform plastic
surgery in a hospital. Hospitals require a plastic surgeon to prove their training by
having "boards" approved by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. No "other boards"
are recognized by hospitals. So if your "cosmetic surgeon" does not have privileges in a
hospital to do plastic surgery it is very likely your cosmetic surgeon is not properly
board certified and thus not properly trained.
It is very important to research your surgeon. Call your cosmetic surgeon and ask:
What hospital do you have privileges in to perform plastic surgery?
Is your "board certification" approved by the American Board of Medical Specialties?
