How to Choose a Qualified Plastic Surgeon
If you are considering plastic surgery, you have an obligation to yourself to seek complete information concerning the surgeon who will perform it. This page will provide factual, concrete information that will help you to make an informed and sound decision. Here we discuss things that you should know about the surgeon you choose and the advantages of choosing a doctor who is a member of the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons (FSPS).
- How can I be sure that my plastic surgeon is qualified?
- Why choose an FSPS member as my plastic surgeon?
- Why aren't all Florida plastic surgeons FSPS members?
How can I be sure that my plastic surgeon is qualified?
If you are considering a particular physician, there are a number of things that you can do to find out whether he or she is qualified to perform plastic surgery. These include researching his or her credentials, hospital privileges, and affiliations and finding out about his or her professional reputation. Contact FSPS for more information about our members.
ASPS or ABPS Affiliation
The surgeon you choose should be affiliated with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) or the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS) or both. ASPS and ABPS hold plastic surgeons to the strictest clinical and ethical standards. Membership in or certification by these organizations is an indication that the surgeon has fulfilled the requirements deemed necessary for the safe and ethical practice of plastic surgery.
When checking for affiliations, don't rely solely on yellow pages or newspaper ads, because neither the state nor national specialty society has control over claims made in them. If you do refer to newspaper or yellow page ads, though, look for an indication of membership in ASPS or certification by ABPS. Then follow up with these organizations to confirm your findings. Note that many excellent plastic surgeons, including some FSPS members, do not place yellow page ads; they simply have the standard one-line yellow page listing.
You can contact the ASPS Plastic Surgery Information Service at 1-800-635-0635 to find out whether a surgeon is an ASPS member and log onto http://www.abms.org/login.asp to find out whether the surgeon is certified by ABPS.
Hospital Privileges
Find out whether your prospective surgeon has hospital privileges and where. If a surgeon has hospital privileges, then he or she is allowed to perform surgical procedures within a particular hospital. Hospitals require that surgeons submit licensure documentation and prove that they have training and ability in their specialties before privileges are granted. Surgeons are then subject to rigorous peer review processes that they must pass in order to maintain hospital privileges.
Ambulatory Accreditation
If the surgeon performs plastic surgery in his or her own surgical facility (outside of a hospital setting), make sure that it has been properly inspected and accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities (AAAASF), the Joint Commission on Ambulatory Health Care (JCAHO), or the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).
Professional Reputation
We advise that you ask about the surgeon's professional reputation within the medical community. Begin by calling your local county medical society and your family physician. Find out what you can about the surgeon's practice, ethics, training, and performance. We also recommend that you contact the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons to find out whether the surgeon is an FSPS member.
Why choose an FSPS member as my plastic surgeon?
The Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons takes its reputation seriously and is therefore careful to ensure that FSPS membership has significant meaning. Being an FSPS member means that the plastic surgeon has met stringent requirements for his or her qualifications.
Board Certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS)
All members of the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). To become board-certified by ABPS requires specific, extensive training and experience and the ability to pass a rigorous examination to verify competence. If a surgeon is not board certified, he or she may be capable nonetheless, but there is no way to verify that fact.
Membership in the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS)
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the national plastic surgeons’ professional organization, and it has extensive membership requirements of its own. Additionally, ASPS monitors and maintains records of each member's continuing medical education. All members of the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons must maintain membership in the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). FSPS members are therefore held to the highest ethical and clinical standards, as set forth by ASPS.
Formal Residency Training in Plastic Surgery
All members of the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons have completed a formal, approved residency training program in plastic surgery (six to seven years of training after medical school).
Professional Reputation
Applicants’ names are circulated among all FSPS members when they apply. This step provides an opportunity for the gathering of feedback from FSPS members in case there are concerns regarding the applicant's reputation, ethics, or performance.
Personal Recommendation
Each applicant must have the personal recommendation of at least two of our active members. After becoming a member, the doctor must continue to exhibit professional competence, behavior, and ethics acceptable to his or her peers in order to maintain membership.
Peer Approval
In being accepted as a member, the plastic surgeon has been "approved" by other plastic surgeons who have reputations and images of their own to maintain within the community, the state, their specialties, and the medical community of which they are part, as well as with their individual patients. So, in itself, membership in the state or local specialty society is a sort of testimony to the ability, reputation, and ethics of a plastic surgeon.
To see a listing of the entire membership of the FSPS, sorted both alphabetically by name and geographically, visit the "Member Directory" page of our website.
Membership vs. Licensure
Yes, there are physicians practicing plastic surgery in the state who are not members of the state society of plastic surgeons. Membership is not mandatory for the practice of medicine. Rather, a physician is licensed by the state to practice medicine; FSPS is purely a voluntary professional organization that doctors join by choice. One could practice medicine and/or surgery – including plastic surgery – forever, never join FSPS or any other state society, and still be a perfectly legal practitioner, so long as one maintains one’s medical license in good standing with the state. There is no license required to practice a particular specialty – licensed physicians may practice whatever specialties they are qualified for.
Why aren't all plastic surgeons members?
There are several reasons why plastic surgeons would not be members of FSPS:
- The surgeon has chosen, for whatever reason, not to apply for membership;
- The surgeon has not been accepted for membership; or
- The surgeon is not eligible for membership – that is, does not meet the criteria outlined above.
The mere fact of non-membership does not mean the doctor is "bad" or not qualified – it simply means that we lack substantial evidence that the doctor holds the qualifications that all of our members must possess. However, it is important to note that being a member does influence one's practice positively, both through association with the ethical policies of the FSPS and the ASPS by which each a member is bound and through the interaction with colleagues in continuing education activities and the professional relationships that our members develop and mutually enhance.
The Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons is affiliated with the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and is a member of the Florida Medical Association's Specialty Society Section.
Contact the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons
For more information about choosing a plastic surgeon, contact the Florida Society of Plastic Surgeons today. Our professional group works hard to connect prospective patients with skilled doctors throughout the state.
P.O. Box 7040
Jacksonville, FL 32238
800-779-2979 or
904-693-1799
Fax: 904-786-9939
