{"id":10887,"date":"2019-09-26T07:45:04","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T14:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/?p=10887"},"modified":"2023-02-24T12:48:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T20:48:02","slug":"things-reputable-doctors-never-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https://www.realself.com\/news\/things-reputable-doctors-never-do","title":{"rendered":"8 Things Reputable Doctors Never Do"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story is part of our <\/em>RealSelf Verified<\/em><\/a> campaign to offer consumers greater transparency into provider qualifications and help them find trusted, patient-friendly professionals.<\/em><\/p>

To say the world of aesthetics is tricky to navigate is an understatement. According to a RealSelf study<\/a>, nearly three in five U.S. women don’t know the difference between a cosmetic surgeon and a plastic surgeon—a worrying statistic and just one of the reasons we created RealSelf Verified<\/a>, which takes the work out of vetting a doctor’s credentials. It’s all too easy for providers to take advantage of the fact that patients place blind faith in medical institutions, don’t question their training and aren’t aware of all the loopholes in the law that allow for, say, a pediatrician to perform a breast augmentation or a physician to claim they were trained at an esteemed university when in reality they took only a weekend course there. <\/p>

To break down some of the confusion around finding the right provider, we asked three RealSelf Verified doctors to weigh in on eight red-flag behaviors that trustworthy doctors would never engage in. <\/p>

Find Doctors Near You<\/a><\/div>

1. They don’t mislead with their credentials.<\/strong><\/h2>

A doctor who has nothing to hide will be up-front about their credentials, education and safety standards—on their website and in person. “They won’t refer to themselves as ‘Dr.’ and have staff refer to them as such when they are not an MD or a DO,” says Nanuet, New York, dermatologist Dr. Heidi A. Waldorf<\/a>. “A DNP [doctor of nursing practice] has a PhD, which is a doctorate, but it is suggestive to patients when they say ‘Dr.’ that they are medical doctors.” Asking specifics about your provider’s board certification is key in the consultation: “If they say they have a ‘specialty’ in dermatology but don’t say they are board-certified in dermatology, they aren’t,” she says, adding that board certification must come from a physician organization, such as the American Board of Dermatology or American Board of Plastic Surgery. <\/p>

2. They never promise results based on “wish” pictures.<\/strong><\/h2>

Just because Kylie’s pout<\/a> or Meghan Markle’s nose<\/a> is your personal ideal doesn’t mean it’s realistic for your face. According to Jacksonville, Florida, plastic surgeon Dr. Vaishali B. Doolabh<\/a>, “The photograph has value in getting the patient to communicate clearly and can be a guide, but it is prudent to discuss individual anatomy and asymmetries that will influence the final result and any disparities with the ‘wish’ picture. The consultation should include an assessment of the patient’s motivations, goals and understanding of [the] inherent qualities of a photograph—lighting, position, magnification, animation and filters—before promising a result.”<\/p>

Related: RealSelf’s Guide to Traveling Out-of-State for Plastic Surgery<\/a><\/em><\/p>

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