Patrick Hudson MD, MA, FACS

Check your surgeon‘s reputation. For example, how long has your surgeon lived and worked in the same town? What is the surgeon's reputation? Itinerant surgeons who move from one area to another, and even one country to another, are not unknown. The internet may help with this. A good guide to North American surgeons is the Fellowship of the American College of Surgeons. Membership in this organization requires all the training required by the ASPS plus some additional requirement. The surgeon must be certified in plastic surgery and practice in the same area for several years. They can then apply for Fellowship. This qualification can increase the chances of identifying a poor surgeon because surgeons with poor reputations often move before their poor results catch up with them. The FACS system helps reduce this.