What is Plastic Surgery?

A number of patients come into my office and ask me, "why is it called 'plastic' surgery?" and "why am I seeing a plastic surgeon for my broken wrist?" While most people have a general understanding of other surgery specialties (e.g cardiac surgeons operate on hearts), it is often a surprise to my patients and colleagues that plastic surgeons quite literally operate from head to toe, from skin through bone. My hope is that the following explanation will give you a better understanding of the specialty of plastic surgery, our training, and my personal journey to my current practice.

The term "plastic" refers to plastikos which is the greek word for form and the term "plastic surgery" owes itself to our concern for the appearance, form, and function of our reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries.

The average training for a plastic surgeon following high school includes 4 years of undergraduate education, 4 years of medical school, and anywhere between 6-8 years of surgical education. Following this, many plastic surgeons will then go on to complete additional fellowship training, learning very specific techniques or honing skills on one area within the very broad practice of plastic surgery.

My specific path included a fast tracked 7 years of combined college and medical school. I was then accepted into a 6-year integrated plastic surgery program. During that training, I had the opportunity to learn from general surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, oculoplastic surgeons (who concentrate on the tissues around the eye), urologists, neurosurgeons, cardiac surgeons, dermatologists, oral surgeons, ear, nose, and throat surgeons, vascular surgeons, and other specialties as part of a broad surgical education in addition to 3 years of dedicated training in plastic surgery.

During my dedicated plastic surgery training, we learned how to treat a broad range of complex surgical problems as well as how to perform cosmetic surgery for the enhancement of appearance. About one-third of our training also involved treatment of conditions affecting the hand and wrist. This included arthritis, carpal tunnel, broken bones, problems with the blood flow to the hand and anything else that keeps patients from getting the most function out of their hands.

During my training, I fell in love with the hand and wrist and decided to spend an extra year in fellowship training to learn advanced techniques in hand surgery.

Following training, I began my practice of plastic surgery and complex hand and wrist surgery. It was during this time that most plastic surgeons (myself included) prepare for board certification.

While each medical board is different, board certification in plastic surgery is a rigorous process including a written test as well as an oral examination. During the oral examination, senior plastic surgeons carefully look through all aspects of our practices. We (the examinees) then travel to be tested in real time by senior plastic surgeons to ensure that we are offering our patients safe, efficacious, and ethical care.

While not all plastic surgeons who take these boards pass, the ones that do are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery®.

It is a privilege to practice this incredible discipline and I hope that this post has helped you understand my specialty a little bit better.