It is desirable if the surgeon limits his or her practice to performing cosmetic surgery.

Board certification is desirable, but can be misleading. For example, recently the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery has encouraged its members to say, "make sure your cosmetic surgeon is certified by the American Board of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery", implying that board certification by this particular board makes their surgeons more qualified to perform cosmetic surgery. However, a look at recent articles dealing with complications in cosmetic surgery in the States of Florida and California show that surgeons who hold this type of certification have the highest percentage of complications. These two states have the highest percentage of all cosmetic surgery procedures performed annually.

Source #1- The Sun-Sentinel, a South Florida Newspaper, published a series of articles in 1998 concerning complications from cosmetic surgery. The investigative report reviewed the malpractice insurance claims in the State of Florida and found that in fact,

"Eighty percent of complications were from Board Certified Plastic Surgeons"

(click here to view table)

Source #2- In the January 1999 medical publication, Clinics in Plastic Surgery, the head of a large California Malpractice Insurance Company, Dr. Mark Gorney, himself a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon, reported that when Board Certified Plastic Surgeons were compared to Cosmetic Surgeons, "Board Certification in Plastic Surgery is not necessarily the hallmark of a claims free surgeon…..the overwhelming number of significant claims in aesthetic (cosmetic) surgery arise mainly from Board Certified Plastic Surgeons".

(This publication is available in most medical school libraries or in local major hospitals)

Hospital privileges are also desirable, but not mandatory. Since the vast majority of cosmetic surgery procedures are performed in the office surgery setting, many surgeons do not maintain privileges to do these procedures in the hospital. In addition, hospitals are frequently not impartial when awarding hospital privileges and qualified surgeons are often blocked by competitors from obtaining these privileges. Example: Dr. Jeffery Klein, a California Dermatologist, the inventor of Tumescent Liposuction, which is a technique that has revolutionized liposuction, would be denied hospital privileges in most major hospitals because he is a Dermatologist. Despite the fact that he has performed thousands of liposuction surgeries and his technique has greatly reduced complications from liposuction surgery! Go figure.

In short, interview your surgeon, see his/her photos, then talk to patients, and then decide.