BOARD CERTIFICATION

Board certification helps differentiate the best from the crowd

Having good solid plastic surgery education is great and absolutely necessary--but it isn't the end of things. There's also board certification. The board certification process begins after finishing plastic surgery residency. But be careful, not all board certifications are the same.

Certification Pyramid

The process for board certification in plastic surgery has continually evolved through the years. Today, the process requires several components:

• Written examination - to access knowledge base
• Case collection - the surgeon has to perform and document his/her own cases for peer review
• Oral examination and presentation of the cases collected to access competency and safety.

The board certification process is so rigorous that nearly 20% of trained plastic surgeons who attempt it fail each year. To date, only 7570 plastic surgeons have been board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, the gold standard.

Beware of imitation boards

Remember that after one year of internship after medical school, any doctor can perform surgery. What happens if a doctor is not a plastic surgeon and therefore cannot get board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery? They call themselves "cosmetic surgeons" and seek out unofficial board certification.

These "boards" grant certificates to doctors who are not plastic surgeons and to those who have less than 5 years of plastic surgery residency.

Beware, these "boards" are not part of the American Board of Medical Specialties and are not recognized by most states. We consider these "boards" fake, not much different than those SPAM e-mails for instant diplomas.

Conclusion

Board certification is so important, yet it can be very confusing to understand what it all entails. Just remember that there is only one recognized board in plastic surgery. So when you ask your doctor about board certification, you need to make sure it is specifically from the American Board of Plastic Surgery.

Some offices will say "our doctor is board certified." Don't just accept that--you need to make sure you find out "by who!"