You wouldn’t go to the butcher to buy milk or to the dentist to get your toenails painted, right? Yet, when it comes to plastic surgery, people can be a little less discretionary. Sometimes, they don’t check the credentials of the person they are asking to do surgery on them!
Here’s the lowdown on plastic surgery board certification and its significance. Who should really be holding the botox needle or scalpel to your face? How can you tell if they are legitimate?
Licensed and Board Certified
To practice medicine in the United States, doctors must be licensed by the states in which they work. However, being licensed does not indicate whether a doctor is qualified to practice in a specific medical specialty, such as family medicine, plastic surgery, or dermatology. One of the best ways to ascertain if a doctor has the qualifications to provide care in a specialty is to find out if he or she is Board Certified and participating in activities to stay up-to-date with the latest advances in medicine and patient care. Licensure is required in order to practice medicine, while certification is a voluntary, additional credential.
In recent years, there have been several reports of unfavorable and adverse events following procedures performed by physicians. Many of these surgeons have not gone through plastic surgery residency and have not qualified to become certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). Complications can happen with any type of surgery; however, confirming your surgeon is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery serves as a warranty for the type of training your surgeon has received and the type of exams he/she needed to successfully pass in order to receive that certification.
As a group of specialists, plastic surgeons are relatively small compared to the greater medical community and the greater group of people who want to be doing liposuction or performing cosmetic surgical procedures or using injectables or lasers.
The American Board of Plastic Surgery aims to produce safe, ethical plastic surgeons with an extensive knowledge of the entire spectrum of plastic surgery who are able to represent the specialty to the highest standards.
Who Is Certified?
All patients seeking plastic surgery procedures should do their homework before choosing their surgeon. Certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery is a qualification not easily obtained which demonstrates a high level of training and education, necessary for optimal results and patient satisfaction. Furthermore, certification requires documentation of the required number of Continuing Medical Education (CME) hours, completion of the recertification application, and successful completion of self-assessment examinations.
Because certification is a voluntary credential, by choosing a plastic surgeon certified by the ABPS, a patient can be assured that the surgeon has completed the appropriate training and passed comprehensive written and oral examinations covering all plastic surgery procedures. Today, safety is seamlessly embedded into the content of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery because it is integrated into the fabric of plastic surgery education at all levels, from residency, through board certification, and to maintenance of certification of competence. Safety does not happen by accident.
Written by Joanne Myers
References
- Not going under
- American Board of Plastic Surgery FAQs
- Adverse events in facial plastic surgery: Data-driven insights into systems, standards, and self-assessment
- Adverse Event Incidences following Facial Plastic Surgery Procedures: Incorporating FACE-Q Data to Improve Patient Preparation
- 75th Anniversary: The Changing Face of Patient Safety in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
- Trust ASPS
