Board Certified

Article by Rex Emanuel

Would you have your landscaper build your house? I am a Las Vegas plastic surgeon and was doing a procedure the other day at my usual fully accredited outpatient surgical facility, and found it remarkable that an ENT surgeon next door was doing a breast augmentation! What woman in their right mind would have an ENT surgeon do their breast augmentation Las Vegas procedure?

The problem is that it is very confusing for the average person to understand how to find a well-qualified surgeon. Sadly, any doctor can call himself or herself “Board Certified” or a “Plastic or Cosmetic Surgeon”. A frightening number of physicians who call themselves “plastic surgeons” or “cosmetic surgeons” have actually trained in a nonsurgical specialty, and have no formal training in surgery. Many physicians who claim to be “board certified” have not been board certified by the by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the ONLY Board in the field of Plastic and Cosmetic surgery recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Attending a weekend course to learn breast augmentation is not enough to be able to perform safe surgery on a person’s chest, and be able to handle potential intra-operative and post-operative complications. There is no way to fully understand the anatomy of the chest without significant surgical training in the chest! Surgery by untrained physicians can be deadly. I completed 4 years of General Surgery training followed by 2 years of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery training in order to be qualified to perform breast augmentation surgery! And, I would NEVER decide to do orthopedic surgery like a total knee replacement, for example, after a weekend course because the pay was good! How do people sleep at night?

It is critical that patients do their homework to make sure that their physician is Board Certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery. This is the only board that certifies physicians in plastic surgery of the ENTIRE body, including the face, breast, abdomen, and extremities. For me to become certified by the ABPS, I was required to possess a five-year college degree and a four-year degree from an accredited medical school. It was mandatory for me to successfully complete a four-year surgical internship and residency, and complete a two-year accredited residency specifically in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. That is 15 years of training! And that was still not enough! Additionally, I had to practice plastic surgery for at least two years, submit all of my operative cases for review, pass extensive oral and written exams, receive comprehensive outstanding hospital reviews, before I was even considered for Board Certification in Plastic Surgery. Now that I have been Board Certified in Plastic Surgery for over 12 years, I have more recently completed my ten-year recertification, which requires exams, peer and hospital reviews, in addition to a thorough analysis of my operative cases, and in-depth medical education in my field.

If a doctor says he or she is “Board Certified”, it is in your best interest to check and see by which Board. There is no recognized Board of “Cosmetic Surgery” or anything other than the 24 listed specialties on the ABMS website

You should ALWAYS choose a Board Certified physician so that you can rest assured that your doctor has the knowledge, experience, and skills to provide quality healthcare within a given specialty. The Joint Commission, National Committee for Quality Assurance, health care institutions, hospitals, insurers, physicians and patients use Board Certification by an ABMS Member Board as an essential tool to assess physician credentials within a given medical specialty. In addition, Board Certified physicians keep pace with the latest medical advances, which translates into higher standards and the best quality of care.

One more thing: you need to ask if your doctor has hospital privileges to perform the particular surgery you are interested in. Properly trained and board certified plastic surgeons must have hospital privileges at accredited hospitals. You should ask about your plastic surgeon’s credentials and hospital privileges BEFORE undergoing any treatment or surgery. It takes 2 minutes to check online for yourself. Hospitals grant doctors privileges to do procedures that fit under their training guidelines. No hospital would grant an ENT surgeon hospital privileges to perform breast augmentation!