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  • Are Plastic Surgeons Scientists or Artists?
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Male Voice: Plastic surgery really is both science and art, but people have completely different takes on it. So there's this big trend right now toward evidence-based medicine, which means that everything you do should be based on clinical trials that kind of document the effectiveness of it and you know that should apply to plastic surgery just like this with anything else.

On the other hand, what we're being asked to do is improve appearance and a lot of the outcomes that we get can only be measured subjectively. So I think it really is a combination between the two. Now for me, I actually come from a background of having seriously studied art. I started out in college as an art major. So I still draw. I think it really helps that kind of special thinking, helps me kind of creatively sort of envision different solutions to problems, but I think it all has to be grounded in science. You still have to use fundamentally good technique and put it all together in terms of how you take care of patients.

Are Plastic Surgeons Scientists or Artists?

Doctor Richard Baxter weighs in on the wether or not plastic surgeons approach treatments more as artists or scientists.