Everything You Need to Know in Order to Become a Successful Plastic Surgeon1

Being a plastic surgeon is more than having a playboy lifestyle and having a penthouse or an enormous villa. It’s not something you do to impress all the girls or to get the most famous celebrities right in your office. Plastic surgery has to be seen as a life-saving job. You do it because you want to make people feel better about them, so you have to take this job seriously. You must work hard and precise to make sure that no patient will think afterwards that coming to your office was the worst idea he ever had. Sometimes, it’s not just about patients going under the cosmetic-surgery knife to have a facelift. Sometimes, you have to cure deformed patients who want to put the “finger pointing” behind them. If you are not prepared for something like that, you better start learning how to become a medical assistant.

Apart from the dedication and the needed knowledge, you will also need a certificate from the American Board of Plastic Surgery (ABPS). I hope you weren’t thinking that that online nursing degree would be enough. Once you finish your plastic surgery residency, learn everything you need to know and get the certificate, you’re ready to go. Make sure your ethics stay untouched. Never promise something you can’t give your patients, just so you don’t lose them; a good plastic surgeon tells them when their demands are unrealistic and if he can’t fix them exactly the way they want to. They will probably offer you more money to give up, but don’t let your beliefs be affected by a sum with many zeros. It is tempting to see a check, but think that if things go wrong, you will be sued for more money than you received.

Also, a good surgeon knows that he has to create a connection with his patients. And no, no kinky thoughts, I am talking about becoming the patient’s friend. First, because it’s likely that if you are kind and polite, people will recommend you/come back to you and second, because it’s important to have a surgery without any stress. There are patients who get nervous thinking what if they won’t wake up, what if something will go wrong. Your role is to calm them down and to assure them that you’ll do whatever is in your power to give them the expected results.

It takes years to become a surgeon, but you'll only become a successful one if you're able to stay true to your ethics. Don't compromise when a person's life is at stake.