How to Find Out if Your Cosmetic Surgeon is Even a Plastic Surgeon
Finding out whether your doctor is board certified and in what is easy to find out if you look on the American Board of Medical Specialties website.www.abms.org
You will have to register before you investigate. Once you register, you can search by name, address or specialty.
Why Board Certification is Important
For any potential plastic surgery patient who is trying to figure out how to choose the right plastic surgeon, the first question should be whether the plastic surgeon you are considering is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. While this information alone does not guarantee an excellent result, it is clearly the first piece of information the discerning consumer should attain. Board certification in plastic surgery begins with completion of a plastic surgery residency followed by a comprehensive written examination. Once the written examination is passed, the board then requires a year of case collection which includes submitting detailed information such as a list of all cases including complications, anesthesia records and photographs (before, intraoperative, and after). If the case collection is accepted and complete, 5 cases are chosen by the board for the second phase of board certification, the oral examination. The oral examination includes both the selected cases, as well as several theoretical cases designed to assess the depth and breadth of knowledge all plastic surgeons should have to be qualified as board certified. After passing both written and oral exams, the physician is granted board certification (assuming other areas such as rules concerning advertising have been met). Furthermore, board certified plastic surgeons are required to maintain certification by undergoing rigorous continuing medical education (150 hours of CME every 3 years as well as other requirements by the American Board of Medical Specialties called MOC). Hospitals often use board certification as a means to establish standard of care within the community. For instance, Hendersonville Medical Center requires board certification within 5 years of graduation from residency to maintain staff priveleges. This is why only one plastic surgeon has priveleges at HMC in the Gallatin/Hendersonville area.
The American Board of Medical Specialties contains a list of all true boards. The board certification information on this site is sent directly from the board to the ABMS, rather than coming from the physician. This keeps the information you find about board certification on this site completely untouched by any advertising. Most other sites you find information on may look factual, but are really advertising. If the doctor you are looking for is not listed, then they probably aren't certified by any medical board. For instance, if your surgeon says they have years of surgical experience the truth will be on the American Board of Medical Specialties website. If the doctor you are interested in isn't listed, there is a good chance that physician isn't board certified by any real board. Unfortunately, there are many certificates that can be purchased that sound like real certifications. It is also possible to be a physician (graduated from medical school), but never completed a residency in anything or wasn't able to pass a board certification exam. In this case, it is always let the buyer beware. Always make sure to research your doctor & find out that they are at least board certified in their specialty. The last thing you want to find out after the fact is that your physician wasn't board certified in anything.
Click here to find out about ASPS (American Society of Plastic Surgeons) Member Qualifications
Or, you can go to the American Board of Plastic Surgery Website:
www.abplsurg.org