Plastic Surgeon Certification Check
Do not hesitate: always ask the doctor treating you whether he or she is a ‘board-certified plastic surgeon.’ It is your right as a patient.
Check the doctor’s identification card
Since November 2014, The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons has required specialists who are members of the Association and regular members of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons and the Korean Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery to wear the identification card shown below so that they can be clearly identified.
Check the signboard outside the hospital / clinic
OO Plastic Surgery Clinic
OOOO Medical Clinic, Treatment Subject: Plastic Surgery
OOOO Clinic, Treatment Subject: Plastic Surgery
OOOO Laser Clinic, Treatment Subject: Plastic Surgery
Examples of exterior signboards of hospitals / clinics run by board-certified plastic surgeons
A clinic where a board-certified plastic surgeon practices is named ‘OO Plastic Surgery Clinic,’ and the order of the wording is clear. The letters are all the same size and are aligned on the same line.
However, if the sign reads as shown below, the clinic is not one where a board-certified plastic surgeon practices.
○○ Clinic, ○○ Plastic Surgery (Specialty) Center, ○○ Medical Clinic, Treatment Subject: Plastic Surgery (in barely visible lettering),
○○ Plastic Surgery (with some letters written small or shifted up or down)
※ Incorrect signboard notation is a violation of the Medical Service Act. Please contact or file a report with the local public health center that has jurisdiction.
Check items displayed at the entrance or inside the hospital / clinic
1. Plastic surgeon’s specialist certificate
As shown in the photo, this is a national certificate issued by the government in the name of the Minister of Health and Welfare. It states the holder’s name and resident registration number, and the specialty must be shown as plastic surgery.
2. Plastic surgeon signboards
3. Certification sticker for hospitals / clinics where board-certified plastic surgeons practice
Hospital / clinic where board-certified plastic surgeons practice, certified by The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons and the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons
However, this sticker may be displayed even if only one of several doctors at the clinic is a board-certified plastic surgeon, so you must ask the doctor in charge of your treatment directly: ‘Are you a board-certified plastic surgeon?’
Internet search / How to distinguish board-certified plastic surgeons from specialists in other fields or general practitioners through hospital / clinic websites
Even greater care is needed to tell them apart on the internet.
This is because there are a great many cases in which doctors who are not board-certified plastic surgeons use the name ‘○○○○ Plastic Surgery’ on their websites or in their advertising.
In most cases, you can find out by checking the director’s profile in the medical staff introduction on the website.
The profile of a board-certified plastic surgeon always states ‘board-certified plastic surgeon.’ If it simply says ‘specialist’ without naming the specialty, you can assume with almost 100% certainty that the doctor is a specialist in another field, not a board-certified plastic surgeon. (It gives the impression of having removed one’s own specialty in order to suggest to the general public that one is a plastic surgeon.)
It will state ‘Completed plastic surgery residency at ○○○○ University Hospital (or Hospital) / Certified as a plastic surgery specialist.’ Regular membership of the Korean Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, the Korean Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons is always stated.
Doctors who claim membership of pseudo-organizations or societies with confusingly similar names (such as the Korean Society of Cosmetic Surgery, Korea Cosmetic Plastic Surgery, the International Cosmetic Society, etc.) and display specialist titles (such as ‘cosmetic surgery specialist,’ ‘international cosmetic surgery specialist,’ etc.) are not board-certified plastic surgeons, and this is a clear violation of the Medical Service Act.
Search through the website of The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons
Through the website of The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons, a plastic surgery portal created by board-certified plastic surgeons, you can search for board-certified plastic surgeons nationwide.
Search for specialist members
SEARCH
Search for specialist members
Regular members of The Korean Association of Plastic Surgeons can be found through the specialist search.
This page is translated from the Korean original.