• Video
  • Board Certification Indicates a High Level of Achievement
{{ showTranscript ? 'HIDE' : 'SHOW' }} TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Adam Lowenstein: Hey. This is Dr. Lowenstein. Let's briefly just talk about board certification. In particular, board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
There is a difference between being certified from that board and other boards: The America Board of Cosmetic Surgery, The American Board of Surgery. People who are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery have had to have adequate plastic surgery training which at the very least is six years. In my case I did five years of general surgery, which included plastic surgery. And then did two further years of dedicated plastic surgery after that.
When that was all done, then you have to pass exams. I had to pass exams. And they are very rigorous. They are very, very thorough written exams that you have to pass. And then, when those are passed, you have to collect all of your cases for the first seven months, now. It was a year back when I did it. And submit them to the board. They review them, and then they pick six. Then you have to do oral boards. Again, this is very rigorous, Now that I am all grown up, I give these exams.
When I was taking them, they're extraordinarily stressful. They're several days and you get several unknowns where you have to describe what you would do to a patient that is described to you. You have to come up with the right answer immediately and do well there.
You do that for a couple of sessions and you also go over these cases that the board has chosen to review, your previous cases that you've previously submitted to them. You have to achieve a certain very high level of understanding of both your cases as well as the unknown new cases. You have to show significant ethical demeanor in order to pass these exams.
Once you have passed these exams, you can become certified by the board, but that's not all. Every couple of years, there's more and more requirements in order to maintain your certification. You may see MOC, or Maintenance of Certification, on my and other websites. Again, very rigorous, very important. But make sure that your plastic surgeon is up to date and really knows what they're talking about.
So, I strongly suggest, anytime you are considering plastic surgery, you're looking for a board certified plastic surgeon, one that is certified by The American Board of Plastic Surgery.
Thanks for listening. Take care.

Board Certification Indicates a High Level of Achievement

Dr. Adam Lowenstein explains what it means to be a board certified plastic surgeon and what it takes to attain such a title.