Dr. Gardner on Board Certification

One of the questions that’s floating around the internet quite a bit is board certification. When one is seeking a plastic surgeon and is considering somebody, they want to know what their board certification is, so what I’d like to address is what the plastic surgeons at Naples Plastic Surgery, what their board certification is, because there’s a lot of board certifications out there and it’s important for the patient to understand who actually boards the surgeon.

The surgeons at Naples Plastic Surgery are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. In order to be board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, a resident has to complete training in a plastic surgery fellowship or an integrated program whereby they complete plastic surgery and general surgery training combined.

Once they’ve completed their training, they then go out and actually are board eligible at that point and can start doing cases, operations, seeing patients. Once they’ve accumulated a certain number of cases, they can present those to the American Board of Plastic Surgery to be qualified for board certification. In addition, that doctor has to take a written exam, pass that written exam that’s offered by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and then present their cases for an oral exam in which they sit in front of a board of plastic surgeons from the American Board of Plastic Surgery and are examined to make sure that they’re qualified to get board certified.

One of the things that’s important to know is the American Board of Plastic Surgery covers all the specialties of plastic surgery, including facial plastic surgery, plastic surgery of the breast, and plastic surgery of the body. I just wanted to say that because there are some specialties that will say you need to go to a specialist. For example: a facial specialist. Well guess what? Plastic surgeons who are board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery are facial plastic surgery certified.

I want to caution potential patients when they’re when they’re looking at the surgeon’s board certification because there are certain plastic surgeons who call themselves plastic surgeons that never did any plastic surgery training. That’s an interesting way that doctors can get by calling themselves plastic surgeons without actually having a board certification of plastic surgery. They may be board certified, for example, in ear nose and throat surgery, or they may be board certified in gynecology, and some plastic surgeons who call themselves plastic surgeons even are board certified by family medicine.

So it’s important when you’re looking for a plastic surgeon, make sure they’re board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. All the surgeons at Naples Plastic Surgery are either certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery or are board eligible. Thanks for your time.