By Dr. Kenneth Hughes

LOS ANGELES — Society is inundated with images of plastic surgery on television and throughout all of social media including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.  We hear the lure of improving yourself through plastic surgery on the radio. Where is the best place to find your plastic surgeon? The answer is none of these.

Selecting a plastic surgeon should focus on evaluating the probability that the surgeon will get the result that you want to obtain. What things underscore this evaluation?

1) Training: If the surgeon has trained at the best schools on the planet, much of the weeding out of intellect and talent has been done for you. A person who has a history of excellence will have a much higher probability of executing in a particular surgery. If someone lacks intellect or judgment or training, it will be very difficult for that surgeon to achieve success no matter how much purported experience is accumulated.

At the very least, a plastic surgeon should have trained and completed a full plastic surgery training program of 3 years in duration. Weekend courses or a cosmetic sojourn will not get the job done. Training in other specialties will not help create a plastic surgeon. I would not expect a heart surgeon to perform your liposuction, and I would not expect a plastic surgeon to perform your triple bypass heart operation. A plastic surgeon should be so expertly trained and capable that even on the first patient out of training an expert result is obtained.

2) Board Certification: Board Certification by the the American Board of Plastic Surgery is important as well. The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the only certifying board for plastic surgeons. The others are pretenders.

3) Experience: Experience is certainly important, but it is not about how old an individual is. There are 70 year plastic surgeons at the end of their careers who have only performed 100 surgeries each year average for their careers. This may be only 3000 surgeries. Whereas a much younger plastic surgeon may have performed twice that number. So experience is the result of the number and relative complexity of procedures not the age of the surgeon. Another consideration is that a surgeon may only perform one or two particular surgeries like rhinoplasty or liposuction. You would not want that individual giving it a try on a tummy tuck or a breast lift. At the same time, do not be fooled by surgeons who proclaim to specialize in one surgery like rhinoplasty. A much busier surgeon who performs a greater number of procedures may perform more of that specific procedure like rhinoplasty than does the proclaimed specialist.

4) Reviews: Reviews are certainly helpful for the patient in getting an understanding of the types of procedures the surgeon performs and perhaps the numbers of procedures. However, certain review sites can certainly be gamed, and patients should be aware.  Competitors and extortionists can write horrific negative reviews as well, though it is usually obvious the disconnect that exists with these reviews.

5) Before and After Photos and Surgical Videos: If the patient can develop a very critical and discerning eye, before and after photos may be the most useful and unbiased way to evaluate a plastic surgeon. If you can determine when body positions have been manipulated and camera angles have been altered, you will be able to determine when more is done with less and how often maximal results are achieved. With the ubiquity of Photoshop, procedure videos on You tube can substantiate surgical skills and results.

Social media is here to stay but I do not think that any are useful in selecting the best plastic surgeon. I think that all of these things can simply divert focus from surgical outcomes and patient care. Even if you are the brightest individual and possess the greatest technical skill, you will never achieve the best outcome without extreme focus, perseverance, and dedication to your patients and their outcomes.

To find more information from Dr. Kenneth Hughes please visit drkennethhughesbbl.com