An interesting story came across my computer screen this week. Tom Seery, the founder of RealSelf.com, a doctor review site which is said to be the most visited online community for learning and sharing information about cosmetic treatments, spoke out on the issue of why to choose a board certified plastic surgeon for your plastic surgical procedure.
Four years ago Mr. Seery made a controversial decision to remove 3,000 doctors from the RealSelf.com website and doctor directory because they were not board-certified in a cosmetic medicine specialty. For more information about what board certification entails, please click here. Mr. Seery made his decision because he believed that training, credentials, and board certification mattered when it came to patient satisfaction and safety.
In a dramatic confirmation of Mr. Seery’s decision, RealSelf.com recently released the results of their analysis of tens of thousands of reviews written by patients on their website dealing with their satisfaction with the results of procedures performed by physicians. When RealSelf.com analyzed those results they found that the patient satisfaction rates were 15% higher on average when those procedures were performed by doctors who were board certified in a cosmetic medicine specialty – e.g. plastic surgery, ENT, or dermatology. Although ER doctors are legally allowed to do liposuction and gynecologists may perform breast augmentation, they are not board certified in a cosmetic medicine specialty.
Some specifics:
• For Botox injection, there was a 27% higher satisfaction rate
• For Juvederm injection, the rate was 25% higher
• For Restylane, 36% higher
• For liposuction, the satisfaction rate jumped from 71% with non board-certified to 92% with board-certified surgeons
• For breast augmentation, it was 15% higher
Their conclusion: Consumers are reporting much better results from care delivered by board-certified physicians specialized in cosmetic surgery, and this should play a factor in their decision making process when choosing their provider. The bottom line: Board Certification Matters!
Incidentally, Dr. Sanders is Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. 🙂
For more information, please contact his office.
