To become a plastic surgeon, one must undergo robust training. This includes 4 years of medical school and 6 years of plastic surgery training, or a combined of 8 years of general surgery residency and plastic surgery fellowship. Other specialties may get a few months or a couple of years of “cosmetic training”, however, this does not equal the number of years a plastic surgeon has trained.

Therefore, to ensure that you maximize your chances of safety and best outcomes for your procedure, the following  is a list of factors to consider in your search for a plastic surgeon that’s right for you:

1. Find a board-certified plastic surgeon – this is the absolute first priority. In order to be board certified, you must be a plastic surgeon and you must also have passed your written and oral board examinations which ensures that the surgeon is following the proper guidelines, ethics and standard of care within plastic surgery. You can find the list of board-certified plastic surgeons here: American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) (https://www.abplasticsurgery.org/). In fact, before you go through the process of scheduling a consultation, you’ll want to check to see if the surgeon in question has the proper credentials. Beware of surgeons who try to counter argue about board certification and come up with excuses for why they are not board certified. The truth is that it is not easy to be a board-certified plastic surgeon and only the most qualified become credentialed and undergo the necessary training. And you always want to  pick the surgeon that is the most qualified.

2. Check if the surgeon is an expert and has the proper training and experience in your procedure of choice – the next step is to check which plastic surgeons are experts in the procedure you’d like to have. Even though we all learn to operate and do most procedures, the truth is that some of us focus on certain areas more often and do those procedures in higher volumes. And since doing something more means that you theoretically become better at it, you want to pick a surgeon that has done the procedure you have in mind multiple times. Imagine if you could pick your pilot to fly you anywhere in the world. Would you pick someone that has flown a plane 10 times or someone that has flown 100 times? The same principle applies here. Pick a surgeon that has done the procedure you’d like to do many times. Having said that, as a plastic surgeon, we learn how to do tens, if not, hundreds of different procedures during our training. And so it’s not uncommon that we later focus on 5-8 procedures out of the 100 procedures that we learn. Thus, you do not necessarily need to find someone that only does one procedure for a living either as sometimes it’s better to find a surgeon that does a few varieties of procedures since the frame of reference in that surgeon might be wider. However, the surgeon that you  ultimately decide using should be comfortable performing your procedure and should have done many.

3. Analyze the surgeon’s style and artistic eye – Once you have narrowed it down to a board-certified plastic surgeon as well as a surgeon that has significant experience in the procedure you have in mind, it is important to study their style, approach and artistic eye. What does this mean? Well, you see – plastic surgery is a field in which we learn different techniques to perform a certain procedure. Thus, there are multiple different approaches and techniques to facelifts, breast augmentations, breast lift, etc. and not just one technique. And each technique will yield slightly different results. In addition, a technique is just a technique, and how something is sculpted and shaped is then dependent on the plastic surgeon’s artistic eye. Have you ever noticed how different rhinoplasty surgeons have different results? They use their artistic eye to determine the best technique to utilize based on the patient’s anatomy, patient’s desired outcome, and other factors to yield the best outcome. achieve the patient’s desired outcome. Therefore, you want to analyze the style, approach and artistic eye that the surgeon has to see if this is something that lines up with your goals and vision.

4. Before and after pics – this is related to the previous item. You want to check as many before and after pictures as possible to see if the outcomes and results that the surgeon has is in line with what you think “looks good” or acceptable for yourself. You might consider bringing some of your own “goal” pictures to show the surgeon your vision and desired goals. 

5. Trust – Finding a surgeon you can trust is very important. How do you trust a surgeon when you haven’t met them or when you just meet them once? This is difficult, but if you are aware of this fact, you can now actually start picking up ques once you go for your consultation. What ques are important to looks for? This could be very subjective, but try to assess the energy of the plastic surgeon, the vibe you get, how he/she speaks to you, looks you in the eye, is attentive towards your needs and goals, how he/she listens to you and not interrupts you, how he/she encourages you to ask questions, how much time he/she spends with you, if they ask you questions in order to understand your goals, etc. Moreover, try to assess if the surgeon truly is here for you and wants to take care of you, rather than a plastic surgeon just trying to “oversell” you the procedure. Remember that a good surgeon knows when to not operate and/or know what to not do, and whether you are a good candidate for a certain procedure. Consequently, it’s not a plastic surgeon’s job to tell you what you want to hear. The best surgeons will give you honest, straightforward guidance on the best approach to your situation and the realistic results you can expect.

6. Reviews, ratings and word of mouth – Reading reviews and ratings and asking around are an important aspect in this equation of finding the right surgeon for you, however, now that you have a better understanding in the above, you also understand that what another person says may or may not be applicable to you. In fact, most of us are very different in our needs, goals, skin type, tissue quality, basic anatomical shape, etc. and so someone else’s opinion should be taken with a grain of salt. In general, you should look for a surgeon that mostly has good ratings and reviews, but you should not be scared or dismiss someone that has a few bad reviews or ratings as every surgeon will most likely have a few patients that are unhappy with their results. Plastic surgeons are humans, and no human is perfect. Thus, it is likely impossible to get the perfect result in every single person. But that does not mean that your result with that surgeon will not be perfect. Consequently, read reviews and look at the ratings but do not let that be your sole factor of decision making. Many can also purchase good reviews and ratings which complicates this even further and yet another reason not to put all your stock in reviews and ratings.

7. Come prepared to the consultation – once you have set up a few appointments, come prepared. Ensure you have a list of questions and ask away. It is not only important that your questions are answered but also that the plastic surgeon can answer all of your questions properly in order to help give you confidence in picking the surgeon that’s right for you.