Why Is It Important to Distinguish Board-Certified Plastic Surgeons? (Notice)

Distinguishing board-certified plastic surgeons is very important because it helps healthcare consumers receive appropriate specialist care.

In Korea, doctors obtain a medical license after graduating from medical school and, after completing an internship, become specialists in a particular field through approximately four more years of specialty training. This can be compared to students who enter a college of education and, four years later, some become mathematics teachers while others become music teachers.

By obtaining a medical license, every doctor may practice medicine in all areas; however, a specialist who has received specialty training in a given area of practice has deeper knowledge and skills in that field. It is therefore clear that board-certified plastic surgeons are the more trustworthy experts in plastic surgery. However, because doctors who are not board-certified plastic surgeons may also legally perform plastic surgery, consumers must verify each medical practitioner’s specialty for themselves.

Finally, it is ethically problematic for someone who is not a specialist to act in a way that leads healthcare consumers to mistake them for a board-certified plastic surgeon. To correct this and to strengthen trust in plastic surgery and the Korean medical community, it is necessary to distinguish whether or not a doctor is a specialist.