Why Should You Choose a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon?

Why Should You Choose a Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon?

A lack of state regulation regarding credentials required to perform plastic surgery has allowed many health care providers who lack specific training and experience in the highly specialized field of facial plastic surgery to offer plastic surgery procedures. As noted in several previous posts, unwary patients often suffer disastrous results and have sometimes died at the hands of physicians and health care providers who are not board certified in plastic surgery.

Selecting a surgeon who is board-certified in plastic surgery as opposed a practitioner who has no medical board certification or a physician who is board certified in a different medical specialty such as gynecology or dermatology, ensures Manhattan facial plastic surgery patients that (1) their plastic surgeon has received required medical training specifically in the field of plastic surgery and (2) their cosmetic surgeon meets the requirements for practice in the field of plastic surgery established by the Board of Medical Specialties.

The Board of Medical Specialties is a non-profit organization vetted by the American Medical Association (AMA) that assists in the development of requirements and standards that govern each of 24 different medical specialties in the U.S. It is important that cosmetic surgery patients understand the difference between state licensure and board certification.

• Medical licenses are issued by each state. Before beginning practice, a physician is required to obtain a medical license from the state in which he plans to practice. A medical license indicates only that a physician has completed the minimum competency requirements necessary to diagnose and treat patients.
• Board certification is a voluntary process that, if obtained, indicates that the physician has met additional, more rigorous requirements related to a specific medical specialty or subspecialty. Board certification is assures patients that they will receive superior care.

Next time: Other credentials your facial plastic surgeon should have.