How to Find Board Certified Plastic Surgeons Outside the USA

Plastic surgeons specialize in surgical procedures that reconstruct, highlight or improve tissues in a functional or aesthetic way. Nearly a half-dozen professional organizations and certifying bodies represent American physicians, but patients interested in finding certified surgeons outside of the United States may encounter some difficulties in their search. Finding board certified plastic surgeons outside the U.S. requires additional research.

Instructions

• 1

  Find surgeons through your national plastic surgery society or federation. Nearly all countries or geographical regions feature professional societies that represent, educate and advocate for plastic surgeons; these societies have specific educational and training requirements for membership. The International Confederation for Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery and the European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery both offer online directories of national and regional plastic surgery societies (links in "References"). Each national society offers tools to find doctors in its specific country based on the society's membership.

• 2

  Search for surgeons through American plastic surgery organizations that include foreign experts. Although most of the U.S.-based plastic surgery societies focus on American doctors, there are American physician groups that allow surgeons from around the world to join, provided they have attained specific credentials and specialty training. For example, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery provides an online tool to search for certified plastic surgeons from around the world--you can specify a particular country in which to focus your search, or you can search by procedure to see which doctors around the world specialize in that procedure.

• 3

  Use tools developed by international professional organizations to find a certified plastic surgeon. Groups like the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and the European Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery are global in scope, drawing members from surgical practices in every part of the world. International groups maintain rigorous membership requirements, ensuring that members have attained specific levels of expertise and training in the field of plastic surgery. Both the ISAPS and the ESPRAS web sites offer searchable databases, allowing you to search the globe for a plastic surgeon--search variables include nation, procedure or specific physician.