Is a Certification From ABCS the same as ABPS For a Mommy Makeover?

The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery is NOT an American Board of Medical Specialties member Board--it is a self-designated "board" that "certifies" physicians of various specialties who wish to perform cosmetic surgery procedures--doctors with significantly less true surgical training (and often only via weekend "courses") than American Board of Plastic Surgery-certified plastic surgeons. That is why they call themselves "cosmetic surgeons;" they are NOT fully-trained "real" plastic surgeons!

I like my Internal Medicine doctor a lot, but NO WAY would I want him performing plastic surgery of ANY KIND on me or a loved one. The same goes for Dermatologists, Family Practitioners, and General Surgeons, all of whom can obtain "certification" by the "American Board of Cosmetic Surgery."

Being a faculty member only means that this non-plastic surgeon "teaches" other non-plastic surgeons how to confuse gullible patients into thinking they will obtain care equivalent to that obtainable from a fully-trained, ABPS-certified "real" plastic surgeon!

Not even a properly-trained, American Board of Plastic Surgery-certified, experienced plastic surgeon can guarantee mommy makeover results, but you have a much higher chance of sucessful outcome and superior results with a surgeon who has completed the FULL training (6-7 years) to become a plastic surgeon, not just a few weeks, months, or just a couple of weekend courses after their training in an entirely different specialty that has little or nothing to do with plastic surgery..

Click on the link below for a New York Times article about this very topic! Then schedule some consultations with several "real" plastic surgeons--American Board of Plastic Surgery-certified. Best wishes and thanks for asking!

Today's Mommy Makeover surgery requires a technically skillful, as well as artistic surgeon, who understands wound healing, when to drain and when not to drain, how to create an exceptional belly button, how to get minimal scarring, how to get the correct placement of nipples and implants, how to avoid capsular contractures (the scar around implants which make your breasts feel hard), when to put multiple surgeries together and when to separate them based on your health, desires, medical history, smoking history, etc.  What you are looking for here is a surgeon who has been trained in the classical, general/plastic surgery program.  This surgeon is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery under the auspices of the American Board of Medical Specialists. 

 

Board certification by the above Board is meant to give you confidence that the surgeon you pick has been tested by some of the best people in the field of plastic surgery.  Physicians not certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery may or may not be good.  You do not want to be the decision making person, leave that decision up to the experts.  In the United States, you have over 5,000 choices of surgeons who have gone through a recognized residency in plastic surgery. 

The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the only recognized Board Specialty for aesthetic (i.e. "plastic surgery" and "cosmetic surgery"). There are 23 boards that are recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery is NOT one of these. The American Society of Plastic Surgeon is launching a campaign to educate the public "Just because a doctor wears a white coat doesn't mean he is a plastic surgeon" . This statement is very appropriate in this "buyer beware" environment perspective patients have to negotiate to find someone well trained.

Here are some tips to find the most qualified plastic surgeon for your Mommy Makeover: 

• Verify Board Certification by American Board of Plastic Surgery (do this online)
• Member of American Society of Plastic Surgery (requirements beyond Board Certification)
• Member of American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (indicates extensive experience            in aesthetic surgery - see below link)
• Look at online review sites - like RealSelf, Health Grades,RateMDs, Google, etc
• Look at Before and After photos
• What is my instinct or "gut reaction" as to who I relate to better, answers my questions more fully   and who I basically trust the most.
• Finally ask yourself - if I was to have a complication, who would be the best to take care of me.

ABCS is not a recognized board unlike the American board of plastic surgery which is the only certification for true plastic surgeons. You will probably notice that your surgeon is not on realself because his qualifications are not adequate to even be listed. Check closely and I suspect you will find that your surgeon is actually an oral surgeon or ear nose and throat doctor, or possibly has no formal training. None of the titles will be plastic surgeon and none of them would be able to do a mommy makeover in a hospital. This is a quick test that's easy to do. Only a real plastic surgeon will have actual hospital privileges to do cosmetic procedures. A lesser surgeon won't have privileges because their training is not recognized and their certification is unacceptable for hospital credentialing committees. Beware.

Please do your homework!  The American Board of Plastic Surgery requires rigorous training and testing for all of their surgeons.  The "other" board pretty much lets anyone into their "club" without the same training as a board certified plastic surgeon!!!!

It is very confusing for the average patient to understand the variety of letters that go along with credentialing in this country. It's like alphabet soup.

The American Board of plastic surgery is the only board in the country that certifies board certified plastic surgeons. Their initials are ABPS. Members of the American Board of plastic surgery are listed on their website.

Members of the American Board of plastic surgery are able to become members of the American Society of plastic surgery or the ASPS. The logo for the ASPS is plastered all over this website. Members of the American Society of plastic surgery can be viewed at the American Society for plastic surgery web site.  This is an indication of ethical standing and appropriate prerequisite training.

Board certified plastic surgeons in the United States as well as certified plastic surgeon from other countries can become members of ASAPS the American Society for aesthetic plastic surgery whose members can be found at their website. This represents a specific interest in cosmetic or aesthetic plastic surgery.

Now here's where it gets even more confusing. The American Board of plasticsurgery is held to the standards of the ABMS or the American Board of medical specialties.

The American Board of medical specialties basically oversees 24 medical specialty boards in the United States and considers itself the gold standard of Physician certification in the United States.

So if I were going to have cosmetic or any other plastic surgery I would want to find a board certified or board eligible plastic surgeon who is certified, or going to be certified, by the American Board of plastic surgery, (which is recognized by the American Board of medical specialties.)

I would like it if that surgeon were a member of the American Society of plastic surgery which is a recognition of good ethical standing and appropriate requisite requirements.

If I were having aesthetic surgery I would also be looking for surgeon who was a member of the American Society for aesthetic plastic surgery which indicates a special interest in aesthetic or cosmetic surgery.

I would also want to like and be comfortable with that surgeon.

The board certified or board eligible plastic surgeon credential is the most important part because it takes a while for physicians to gain the credentialing they need after they begin practice to become certified and go on to become members of the ASPS and the ASAPS. A board eligible surgeon just usually means that they are at the beginning of their career, but it doesn't mean they're not good at what they do.

So in your situation, the American Board of cosmetic surgery does not fall into the guidelines that I listed above and is not a board that is recognized by the American Board of medical specialties.

I hope that this helps to clarify for you what is indeed a very confusing set of letters.

While the naming of the boards seems similar, there is only one official plastic surgery board that is accepted in the U.S. as the standard for plastic surgery - and that is the American Board of Plastic Surgery.  This is for surgeons that have done their residency training in plastic surgery, and passed both the official written and oral examinations under the strict rules of the ABMS organization.  It is the highest standard available in the US for plastic surgeons.

The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery is the imitation.  A general surgeon, dermatologist, OB-Gyn and others can take their "certification" exam...without having ever had a single day of plastic surgery residency training.

Please make a sensible choice.

Hi there-

I think my colleagues have done an excellent job of explaining the critical differences... Here's the bottom line:

I bet if you looked at every single member of the "American Board of Cosmetic Surgery", that you would not find a single one who has Certification by The American Board of Plastic Surgery. 

I bet that if you also looked at every single Diplomate of The American Board of Plastic Surgery, that not a single one claims certification by the american board of cosmetic surgery.

Why do you think?

Because the only reason the american board of cosmetic surgery came into existence is because those doctors who wanted to try to legitimize their entry into the field of cosmetic surgery without the required legitimate credentials (actual completion of plastic surgery training and board certification by an ABMS supervised Board) needed to be able to say they were board certified by someone... and admitting to patients that their board certification was in emergency medicine or family medicine was not going to work if their goal was to attract cosmetic patients.

Allowing yourself to undergo surgery by someone like this puts your safety and happiness at inherent risk.

You have gotten very good advice regarding the difference betwen American Board of Plastic Surgery and American Board of Cosmetic Surgery.  It is very confusing for patients as the two boards sound nearly the same.  Intentionally misleading.  Read my blog post for more...

York Yates, MD - Utah.

Congratulations for asking the right questions. The 2 boards are VERY different. It is very likely that your doctor did his post medical school training (Residency, which is the most important part of medical training) in something OTHER than Plastic Surgery...Ask, and again they will most likely tell you they did training at some specialty program blah blah blah....but not their residency!! Be very careful on this one...

No, No, No. The ABCS is an unregulated self promoting board and is not recognized by the ABMS. That is not to say that there couldn't be a member of that society that might be able to do a good job, but, you better do your homework.