Choosing Your Plastic Surgeon
Author: D.J. Verret, MD
Choosing a physician for a cosmetic procedure can be quite a challenge. There are many articles available purporting to help you select the best physician. Unfortunately, there is no absolute criteria which can be used to select a physician. Even if you could select the best physician, each person heals differently and responds differently to medication so the results you experience may not be what others experience. These are a few tips which help to provide a starting point for selecting a cosmetic physician.
Certification
Training
Teach Faculty Appointment
Peer Reviewed Literature Submissions
Ability to Admit to Hospitals
Second Opinion
Board certification can be a very tricky criteria. There are many boards which certify doctors. These can require rigid criteria for inclusion and retesting or may simply require a yearly enrollment. In addition, just because a doctor is board certified does not mean that they are up to date on the current trends in medicine. The main board certification comes from one of the member boards of the ABMS. These boards require both written and oral testing as well as some form of competency evaluation for surgeons. Recredentialing is required every 10 years. Other boards which are not members can also provide top rate credentialing.
First and foremost, be sure that your physician is trained in the procedure you are seeking. Having a facelift done by an emergency room physician is probably not the best option available. Training should include a formal program, not just a weekend lecture given by a commercial company.
Teaching appointments at medical schools can be a good way to find doctors who are dedicated to staying abreast of the latest in technology and trends. Some faculty are full time members of the medical school teaching system while others donate their time from their group practice to teach young doctors without pay.
Doctors who write articles which are accepted for publication in peer reviewed journals are usually dedicated to learning new topics. She also has enough patients to be able to produce studies which interest other physicians.
Ensuring that your physician can admit you to a local hospital in case of emergency can be life saving. Admission privileges are not required for medical licensing. Unfortunately every procedure runs risks and if your surgeon does not have admitting privileges at a local hospital, you may be forced to be under the care of another doctor if something happens a distance from your home.
Few, if any, physicians have unique procedures. If you think that your first physician consultation was not adequate or simply did not feel comfortable, obtain a second opinion.
Choosing a physician is a difficult decision. These criteria are but a few that should be considered and serve only as a starting point for further evaluation.
D.J. Verret, MD is a facial plastic surgeon in the north Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas. Nothing here is to be construed as a substitute for evaluation by a physician. For a listing of national web sites with best doctors and best doctors list .
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