Plastic Surgery Articles

When seeking to have plastic surgery of any kind, it is of the utmost importance that you make sure that your surgeon is board-certified by the American board of plastic surgery. The American board of plastic surgery is the only board recognized by the American board of medical specialties, where all legitimate board certificates are identified and the criteria are maintained. Board certification in plastic surgery is the only way to ensure that your surgeon is properly trained and is held to a strict code of ethical standards as well as continuing education standards.

To become a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, a doctor must first complete an undergraduate degree in college followed by an MD or DO degree from medical school. They then have to go through 5-7 years of postgraduate surgical training, the last several of those are concentrated in Plastic Surgery procedures. After all of that the doctor then enters practice as a board eligible Plastic Surgeon. Within a year of practice that doctor can sit to take his or her written exam to prove a base of knowledge in the specialty of Plastic Surgery. It is not for at least 2 years and after passing the written exam that he or she is allowed to sit for their Oral Board exam in Plastic Surgery. In this examination you must show proof of the work that you have been doing while in practice and you are questioned by a panel of Board Certified peers to prove your skills, judgment, and ethics.

The problem with identifying well trained board-certified specialists in the realm of plastic surgery stems from the rapid growth in popularity of aesthetic plastic surgery. With this growth in popularity of these procedures, there are more physicians and surgeons of all kinds that are “throwing their hat into the arena” of elective cosmetic surgery. The motivation behind this comes from the worsening environment of their traditional medical practices. As insurance reimbursements for the care that is usually offered worsens, adding elective cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures has become much more enticing to doctors of all specialties. Unfortunately, there is no strong state or federal regulations that limit doctors to their own area of medicine. Confounding the issue even more is the competitive, and often misleading, marketing that takes place by all doctors offering cosmetic surgery. The patient must understand that there is only one American Board of Plastic Surgery.

Contact Chicago plastic surgeon Michael Epstein today.

Written by: Michael Epstein MD