Explore Plastic Surgery

Board-Certification in Plastic Surgery: Who has it and What does it mean?

When one is considering plastic surgery, whether it be cosmetic or reconstructive, one of the first questions that patients have been advised to ask is……is my surgeon board-certified? Despite knowing to ask this question, most patients have no idea what it means or what to do with the answer. The question should not be are you board-certified, but are you board certified in…specifically…..plastic surgery. And you don’t even have to ask that question to the doctor directly, you can find that out even before you make an appointment. While you can go to his/her website today and get that answer, but it may be misleading. The misleading indicators are:

- Stating that one is board-certified, but not specifically saying in what specialty. Being board-certified in Dermatology or Family Practice, for example, is obviously not the same as being boarded in Plastic Surgery. A weekend course or seminar does confer the same experience and skill set as years of actual training.

- Stating that one is board-certified in Cosmetic Surgery. This is the one that is the most misleading because it conveys equivalency. Being board-certified in cosmetic surgery is not the same as being board-certified in Plastic Surgery. Plastic Surgery is one of the 22 recognized medical specialties by the American Board of Medical Specialties (http://www.abms.org/) and has been training plastic surgeons through organized medicine and its own recognized board (American Board of Plastic Surgery) since 1937. The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery is not a recognized specialty by the American Board of Medical Specialities. Rather it is a more recent political invention created by physicians and dentists from many other specialties to provide a forum for limited training through meetings and courses in areas of cosmetic surgery. As such, there is no residency program that provides years of cosmetic surgery training in this group. Most doctors certified by the Cosmetic Surgery Board have their residencies in other disciplines such as Ob-Gyn, Dermatology, and Oral Surgery.

The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the most prestigous distinction that any plastic surgeon can achieve in the world. To be certified, one has to complete a two to three year residency training program in plastic surgery after completing prerequisite training in
another surgical discipline, most commonly general surgery. After training is completed, a combination of written and oral examinations are required to attain the status of board-certification in plastic surgery. Every ten years one must re-certify by taking a repeat examination, assuring that one has maintained an adequate knowledge base in the areas of plastic surgery that one primarily practices.

It is easy to find out if your doctor is board-certified in plastic surgery. Simply go to the website of the American Board of Plastic Surgery (http://www.abplsurg.org/) and see if you doctor is listed as a member.

Dr Barry Eppley
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com/
http://www.ologyspa.com/
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis

How Good are the Plastic Surgeons of Reality TV ??

The explosion of reality TV shows on plastic surgery and the public’s thirst for them has been one of the principle driving forces behind the large increase in cosmetic surgeries that have been done in the past five years. From Extreme Makeover to Dr 90210 to even Nip Tuck (obviously not a reality TV show…rather unreal….grossly misrepresentative of the average plastic surgeon’s life), the merging of cosmetic surgery with TV has been a very fruitful marriage in terms of viewer interest and ratings.

What is not apparent, however, is the qualifications of the plastic surgeons who are on these shows. As it turns out, some of them are not even board-certified. As I point this out to my patients who frequently ask question about these shows, they are usually quite surprised. How could this be, they ask? The answer is simple……the most important criteria for being on TV is…..appearance, personality, and how one comes across to the public…in short, being comfortable in front of a camera and being pleasing to watch. ‘Acting’ is more important than medical qualifications. After all, it is a TV show first and foremost.

Why would a plastic surgeon not be board-certified in today’s world? They either aren’t qualified by training to take the examination, have taken it and failed, or simply don’t see the benefits of having board-certification. After all, once you have a TV show, your practice will grow exponentially, regardless of board-certification. The public assumption is that if you on TV, you must be the most qualified or the best in your field. Maybe…..or maybe not!

Remember…being on TV is not a criteria for medical skill assessment…..it is more an indication of camera persona and viewability…..probably not the criteria you would use first and foremost to determine who should cut on you.

Dr Barry Eppley
http://www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com/
http://www.ologyspa.com/
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis

REDUCING THE RISKS OF PLASTIC SURGERY

Demand for cosmetic plastic surgery continues to increase. Last year, Americans spent over $11 billion on 11 million cosmetic procedures, a 50% increase over the number performed in 2000. While TV shows like Extreme Makeover or Dr. 90210 always show great results, cosmetic plastic surgery is not without risk. After all, surgery is surgery.

The most common dangers or ‘complications’ are numbness, seroma, and poor healing (necrosis). Temporary numbness or loss of feeling at the site of the incisions is common in facelifts and tummy tucks, although it is rarely permanent. Seroma is a collection of watery body fluids that occurs most often in tummy tucks and usually a preventative measure, such as inserting a drain during surgery, is often done. Some tissue death from surgical handling, known as necrosis, may occur when long incisions are made on the body and the skin is widely undermined. This may result in incisions coming apart as the skin struggles to heal the cut edges. Your risks increase significantly for that problem if you are a smoker. That’s because smoking affects blood supply to the tissue, furthering the injury due to the surgery. While everyone worries about infection, these are fairly rare in plastic surgery patients, since most are healthy to begin with.

The single best way to lessen the likelihood that these problems may occur is to have a competent surgeon doing your procedure in the right type of setting or location. This can be done by:

- Make sure your surgeon is board-certified in plastic surgery. This is the only
organization that certifies competency in all areas of plastic surgery. You can
check our your surgeon’s standing with the American Board of Plastic Surgery,
based in Philadelphia.
- Make certain your surgeon has the necessary experience to perform the procedures
you want. This can be done by asking for their before and after surgery examples,
given a name(s) of patients that have had the procedure in the past 30 days so you
can speak to one of them, and ask questions until you are satisfied. If you meet
resistance or delays on any of these requests, find another surgeon!
- Make certain that your surgery is going to be performed in a hospital or surgery
center that is a fully accredited facility. For hospitals, this is the JCAH (Joint
Commission on Accreditation for Health Care Organizations). For surgery centers, this is the AAASC (American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers).

Dr Barry Eppley
www.eppleyplasticsurgery.com
www.ologyspa.com
Clarian North Medical Center, Carmel, Indiana
Clarian West Medical Center, Avon, Indiana
Indianapolis