How do I check a doctor's credentials?

Question

I want to know if I am choosing the right doctor for my surgery. Also I would like to read some reviews on the doctor that I choose.

Alan Gonzalez, MD, FACS · Answer

Hello @Skylard thank you for your question. First research your doctor by google, Realslef reviews, social media, before and after case in his profiles, check in the specialist board page if his or her name is there. Then prepare your consultation by asking What is her or his experience? What type of technique and technology does he or she employ? Where will the procedure take place? What tests must be performed before the procedure? Additionally, it is critical to ask whether the clinic has all the permits that are needed to be able to function. This is in addition to all the necessary arrangements in case of any emergency. It's important to not skip the steps to avoid complications. Best wishes! Alan Gonzalez MD, FACS.

Emmanuel Mallol Cotes, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question, you can check if doctor is a certified plastic surgeon at the official website of plastic surgeon association.

Respectfully,
Dr. Emmanuel Mallol Cotes.-

Morad Askari, MD, MBA · Answer

I would recommend checking the American Society of Plastic Surgeons website. You can search your surgeon's name and verify that (s)he is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon. Reviews can be found on Google & Google Maps by searching their name directly. You can also check Realself, Healthgrades, Vitals, and WebMD. These are websites specific to medicine, and your surgeon should have a profile on them with credentials and sometimes reviews.

Rafael Arenas, MD · Answer

Thank your for your answer. Responding to your questions you can check the credentials on the Board of Plastic Surgery of the country he practice as well if he is member the Plastic Surgery Association from it. You should also give your self some time to check his experience, reviews and very important feel comfortable with him/her talking about your concerns and have good communication about your expectations.

Daniel Barrett, MD · Answer

Dear Skylard,
finding the right Dr. is extremely challenging especially with the number of online platforms and resources available. There a lot of great Dr's available. Make sure he/she is a board-certified plastic surgeon. Definitely check to make sure your choice specializes in the procedure you want and spend the time to read through patient testimonials. There is a number of different sites where you can check for reviews (Realself, yelp, google, etc.).You can always pick up the phone and call around also, find an office you feel comfortable with and set up a few consultations. 
Daniel Barrett, MD
Certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Plastic Surgery
Member, American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery

John A. Kotis, DO, FACS, FACOS · Answer

Hi Skylard
Great question. i would recommend asking the important question Are you board certified and in what. If they respond other than a board certified plastic surgeon that is your first flag. Second plastic surgeons are certified by either American osteopathic board of surgery or American board of medical specialists. The easiest way to find out about a surgeon is call up the hospital there affiliated with and find out if they have privileges to perform that surgery at the hospital. Please check honest reviews and more importantly you need to feel comfortable who is performing your surgery.

Mats Hagstrom, MD (license on probation) · Answer

In the end there are only two variables that are required for consistent high-quality cosmetic surgery outcomes. patient candidacy and the surgeons skill and experience.
A proper assessment or calculating the candidacy of an individual patient goes hand-in-hand with debility to technically deliver high-quality results on a regular basis. Also based on inherent skill, commitment to improving and experience.
But there isn’t a whole lot patients can do about their own candidacy. Some people are simply not going to get a good result from a certain procedure and others have the potential for getting some of the best or striking results.
Is under BBL so I’m assuming that is the procedure you’re interested in.
The BBL is actually two procedures done at the same time. The first is liposuction and the second is fat grafting.
Delivering consistent quality results for both Liposuction and fat transfer is in fact much more difficult than most people believe and this includes patients and plastic surgeons.
Plastic surgeons will tell you they have lots of experience doing liposuction because the procedure is done routinely especially in conjunction with other procedures like a tummy tuck or breast reduction.
My recommendation for finding the most talented and experienced or overall best provider is the following.
Whenever possible stay local.
Insist on having in person consultations exclusively(avoid virtual consultation).
Absolute insistence on providers being board-certified by the American Board of plastic surgery. No other board certification matters or is appropriate for this procedure.
Consult with more providers than you ever thought you needed to.
I think five consultations is a good place to start but some patients may need to have quite a few more than that to really make sure they found one of the best providers in their community.
You cannot decipher who is the best provider by sitting at home clicking on your computer or smart phone.
Doing in person consultations come prepared with questions.
During the consultation ask each provider to show their entire collection of before and after pictures of the procedure you’re interested in. an experienced provider should have no difficulty showing you a minimum of 50 sets of before and after pictures of BBL results. The provider to specifically show you as many results as they have of patients with similar body characteristics to your own.
Being shown a handful of pre-selected pictures which most likely represent the best results of the providers career is insufficient to get a clear understanding of what average results look like in the hands of each provider. for that reason you should ask the provider to give you access to their entire collection of before and after pictures or at least as many as you’re willing to show you. show you examples of excellent outcomes, average outcomes and less than outcomes and talk to them about why the results look different.
Let each plastic surgeon know you’ll be consulting with a number of plastic surgeons and one of your main criteria is who has the most numbers of impressive before and after pictures and this is one of your main criteria for deciding who to go with. make absolutely sure after pictures are taken at least three months from the date of surgery. early postoperative pictures of fat transfer results like the BBL can look very impressive but do not at all represent final results. Can you provide are showing your results with pictures taken in the operating room or recovery area or patients who still have surgical markings on it’s a dead giveaway for someone showing you early postoperative results and these are not at all what the results will look like three months later when results are permanent.
Completely discount any provider showing early postoperative fat transfer results.
When reviewing before and after pictures review each of the pictures and ask the provider to show the transitional areas between treated and on treated area in each patient and have them carefully explain exactly what will be included with the Liposuction and where the transition zones will be.
The most common combination for the BBL is liposuction of the mid abdomen love handles and waist often called the abdomen 360.I view the torso as a single anatomic unit and almost always insist and patience also including their full bag and under armor area in order to leave the patient with a natural even thin fat distribution. I view the torso as a single anatomic unit and almost always insist and patience also including their full bag and under armor area in order to leave the patient with a natural even thin fat distribution. Look carefully at all areas treated with Liposuction and look for any areas that show contour irregularities, divots, streaks or unnatural transitions between treated and untreated areas.
For the BBL result personally I believe the goal should be a natural S-curve that continues and goes from the armpit to the knees. Some providers have a different philosophy of how to do this provider with the goal of simply trying to create a large lollipop looking barracks with purposeful Liposuction of the fire to create an image. To me those Are extremely unnatural, unattractive and are difficult to correct afterwards. I called this the “lollipop look”. Ideal results should have harmonious smooth balanced S curves that start from the mid back and sweep continuously evenly down to the lower part of the thigh.
Of how many before and after pictures each provider was willing to show you and make notes of what percentage you thought were quality results versus results you would not want yourself. You should also make note of how many before and after pictures they were able to show you with patients that have similar body characteristics to your own. How do you say as providers will have hundreds or even thousands of before and after pictures provider not willing to show you an abundance of results either don’t have the experience or don’t deliver the results on a regular basis.
Finally I recommend reading all reviews on various physician review websites avoiding providers for any significant number of justified negative results.
The Absence of justified negative results is more important and more telling than having an abundance of positive results.
Surgeons who are thorough, meticulous and detail oriented will spend enough time to do procedures correctly and this includes the same level of thoroughness during consultations.
Use your own good feeling to see if the provider appears enthusiastic and seems to enjoy doing these procedures and was excited about explaining it to you including your individual candidacy and what kind of results you could expect.
Which part of your body should be assessed individually. This means your body needs to be assessed for both Liposuction and fat transfer. It needs to be made it very clear what areas will be included and what areas will not be included and where the transition zones will be.
You didn’t include pictures of yourself so we can’t make an assessment in regards to your candidacy for the procedure.
Do you not commit to having surgery or make a deposit during the consultation. Always give yourself time to think about it and make sure you’ve always finished all your scheduled consultations before committing to having surgery with anyone provider. 
The results from these procedures are permanent and irreversible. To minimize the chance of being left disfigured and increasing the chance of having quality results similar to what you had hope for is imperative that you carefully that each plastic surgeon and this means taking a proactive approach during the consultation which makes him a little unnatural. It is absolutely acceptable and appropriate to push plastic surgeons during consult to come up with impressive collections before and after pictures and answer all patients questions about the procedure.
When in doubt slow down and schedule more consultations.
Best,
Mats Hagstrom MD

How do I check a doctor's credentials?

Answers (7)

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