1. Qualifications of the doctor



2. Doctor's personality

There are many ways you can find out about a doctor's training and qualifications. The simplest, of course, is to ask. Most plastic surgeons will be happy to provide you with information about their background, their training and experience. If they are not happy to help you or are avoiding to answer you, then you are justifiedly being suspicious.

One thing that can help you to know about your plastic surgeon indirectly are the professional organizations worldwide that publish lists of their members. That is a good starting place. In the US, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons has a doctor finder web page which may help you. Besides that, you might also ask if the surgeon is board certified in the field of plastic surgery. It's very important if he is, although this does not guarantee a good result, it definitely tells you about plastic surgeons training. It's better to check that then to be a victim of bad plastic surgery.

Another thing you can do is try talking to your family doctor and local medical association. They will help you because they often have a personal knowledge of a doctor's reputation. Nurses and people who work in hospitals also have first hand experience with plastic surgeons work and his experience.

Good move that requires a bit of work is that you check around in your community and talk to people who have had plastic or cosmetic surgery. If certain doctor is getting consistent results, you may be able to discover this by word of mouth. Simple, right?

Local hospitals often have training requirements to allow doctors to work on their staff. This is also a good place to start your search.

These steps are covering the first factor, doctor's qualifications.

The second factor, the doctor's personality, is also very important. If all goes well, you will see the doctor only a couple of times. But if you have a problem, you and the doctor are going to have to work through some difficult times and issues. Then it is very important that you can get on well with the surgeon and he with you. Try talking to several plastic surgeons and you will soon get a sense of ones you like and can get on with easy. When the doctor you like is also well trained, you have a winning combination.

And try to remember that no matter how well trained or nice the doctor is, some problems can occur. Statistics say that one in every hundred patients will have a big problem after any type of surgery - and plastic surgery is no exception. It's understandable that not all patients are happy with the result of surgery.

As we said before, not all surgens are board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Plastic surgeons certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery have years of extensive education and training which makes them competent for successful operation. All board certified plastic surgeons have proven their abilities by meeting the following qualifications:

Graduated from an accredited medical school

Completed at least 5 years of additional residency

Usually 3 years of general surgery and 2 years of plastic surgery

Actively practice plastic surgery for 2 years

Pass comprehensive written and oral examinations.