Cosmetic Surgery and Safety: A Word to the Wise

Safety is the most important factor in medicine and surgery, especially when elective procedures are involved. When choosing a cosmetic surgeon make sure that he/she is board certified in plastic surgery and has admitting privileges at a local hospital, even though the surgery may be planned in a private operating room suite. The reason for this is that hospitals do not give privileges to physicians who do not show competent full training in the area of surgery they wish to perform. This is important when problems or complications occur that may require hospital based care, which of course should be continued care by the surgeon. One should not perform any task that one cannot finish, no matter what the obstacles. That is the type of training provided by certified surgeons operating in their field of expertise. Other specialties are trying to perform cosmetic surgery; make sure your surgeon can carry out the job to completion.