Choosing a Plastic Surgeon
When you set out to choose a surgeon, you may ask these questions on the phone to help you to find someone with a great deal of experience in breast surgery.
Qualifications
- Is the surgeon board-certified in plastic surgery? This is perhaps the most important question you can ask. Some surgeons are board-certified, but in non-surgical cosmetic procedures or even in other areas, such as ear, nose and throat. These doctors sometimes say that they are “cosmetic surgeons” but they lack the intense training and specific skills that the plastic surgeon may offer. Make sure to ask if the doctor is certified with the America Board of Plastic Surgeons and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.
- Ask to see the doctor’s board certification document. A board-certified plastic surgeon will be happy to show you their certification. Other doctors, when asked, will tell you why it doesn’t matter and their certification is just as good. A certificate from The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the real thing. A doctor with a certificate from the “American Board of Cosmetic Surgeons” is not a plastic surgeon. 10% of our practice is occupied with fixing the results of bad surgical work by people with insufficient training.
- Has the doctor had fellowship training in breast surgery? After four years of medical school and a four year residency, the best plastic surgeons then have fellowship training in breast surgery. This is the kind of doctor you want to be operating on you.
Area of specialty
- Does the surgeon specialize in breast augmentation, breast lift, breast reduction and breast reconstruction? This may sound like an obvious question, but there are surgeons out there who just do everything and do not have a lot of experience in breast surgery.
- Ask the doctor how long they have been in practice.
- Ask how many breast surgeries they have performed.
- Ask the doctor why they became a plastic surgeon.
Facility
- Which hospitals they are affiliated with? In case of an emergency, which hospital will they refer you to and who will take care of you? Some doctors may just turn you over to the emergency room because they have no relationship with a suitable hospital. Doctor Ali would actually continue to assist you, in such a case.
Procedure
- Ask many questions about the details of the procedure
- About about recovery time.
- Ask to see before and after pictures of work they have done.
- Ask to speak to previous breast surgery patients.