Monday, April 19, 2010

40 % of plastic surgeons have no training in plastic surgery

According to the "Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery" journal, about 40% of so called plastic surgeons are not plastic surgeons at all. They may be dermatologists, gynecologist, maxillofacial surgeons and even general practitioners.

This raises questions about the safety of procedures and the environment in which these procedures are done, not only in the US, but in Europe also. A few years ago,a Belgian GP performed a liposuction at his practice, with fatal results : the patient died the same day because of an overdosis of local anesthetics.

In the Netherlands,a careless surgeon did a tummy tuck in his private practice. The patient died 3 days later from infection, because the good doctor did not bother to look after his patient postoperatively.

The LA Times did a survey and found out that of 1876 interrogated "surgeons" only 495 were registered as plastic surgeons.
These same problems arise all over the world and in some countries -such as France- very drastic measures were taken to restrict these opportunistic activities by untrained doctors.

Feel free to discuss the issue of safety in plastic surgery. Let me know your thoughts

Hubert Tytgat