Your decision on choosing your surgeon should rest primarily with your trust of that surgeon. Recommendations from friends and other doctors (such as your GP) are a good place to start. You should get a feeling from your initial consult with the surgeon (as opposed to their staff) as to their level of care and commitment to ensuring a good result, and how they would deal with any problems that might arise. Surgery is not cabinet making – there will always be a small percentage of complications in any surgeon’s practice.
With procedures that are elective, there is always some competition for patients. Some of the common methods of presenting one’s status and results can be misleading. Consider these points when selecting your surgeon.
1. Dodgy credentials
It looks impressive to see a long list of abbreviations and accreditations after a doctor’s name. Patients should check what each of those initials means, and if they are qualifications that are recognised by the Medical Board of Australia. International qualifications may not require training that is as rigorous as is required within Australia.
The Medical Board of Australia has encouraged doctors to use their nominated, protected titles that inform the public of their post graduate training. For example, only a surgeon that has completed training in plastic surgery can call themselves a ‘Specialist Plastic Surgeon’. Other titles may sound the same, but do not require the same training. Check on your surgeon’s registered higher training here
Many societies do not require any form of additional training to become a member. There is nothing stopping a surgeon from nominating themselves as the first, founding, presidential member of the Society of Awesome Cosmetic Surgeons, and adding a few extra initials after their name.
Are the initials and society memberships recognised by the Medical Board of Australia?
2. Honesty about articles and media
Patients that wish to understand the true ingenuity of their surgeon should check on the Impact Factor of the Journal that their articles were published in. Are their articles related to cosmetic surgery or something unrelated?
Articles in public media and magazines rarely have any scientific merit, and are essentially commentaries or paid advertorials. Interestingly, it is rare for the surgeons that most of us consider to be experts in their fields to actually be the people that the mass media request commentary from.
3. Trick photography
When comparing before and after photos, patients need to check that the photos are standardised. Everyone is aware of the difference between their home snaps and what a professional photographer can produce, even before a makeover.
The guidelines published by the Medical Board of Australia state that:-
If ‘before and after’ photographs are used, care must be taken to ensure the public can trust the truthfulness of the images; for example by:
• providing images that are as similar as possible in content, camera angle, background, framing and exposure
• ensuring consistency in posture, clothing and make up
• ensuring consistency in lighting and contrast
• stating if photographs have been altered in any way
• confirming that the referenced procedure is the only visible change that has occurred for the person being photographed.
Ensure that the results that you see are real, not just lighting tricks.
4. Breaking national advertising laws
As of the 1st June 2010, the Medical Board of Australia introduced guidelines for the advertising of regulated health services in an effort to protect the public from misleading medical advertising. High on the list of unacceptable advertising was the use of testimonials (paragraph 5d).
If your surgeon believes that it is OK to break the law, will they be ethical enough to stand by you if things do not go perfectly?
So to keep things fair, here is the dirt on me, Dr Gavin Sandercoe, as at the end of 2010.
Specialist Plastic Surgeon – Medical Board of Australia protected title
Professional Memberships
Royal Australasian College of Surgeons – the only college accredited to train surgeons by the Medical Board of Australia
Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons – professional society that requires training as a Specialist Plastic Surgeon by RACS
Australian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons – interest group within ASPS
American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons – commensurate with my interest in the public hospital system of treating facial injuries, and teaching the younger generations of plastic surgeons in this arena.
Almost all of my published articles and international presentations have been on facial reconstruction. I have been co-author on several articles that have been published in the journal Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, which has the highest impact factor of any plastic surgery journal. Most of my teaching of plastic surgery trainees is on facial reconstruction, but the demand for my teaching on cosmetic facial surgery is increasing.
Whilst training as a plastic surgeon, I also presented a paper on reconstruction after hand trauma at a few national and international conferences. I no longer perform hand surgery.
There is no list of my media commentaries because I have not made many. I agreed to comment on body contouring surgery in November 2010, and a half hour discussion with the journalist was cut down to a sentence that barely makes sense and is not completely accurate!
I do not advertise in magazines or newspapers. My patients find me through referrals and word of mouth rather than advertising. This also allows me to keep my prices lower than the competition as you are not paying for significant advertising costs.
My website does not include a before and after gallery yet. Once my clinical photography is standardised enough to withstand scrutiny, it may be added. I am happy to show patients before and after photos during a consultation in which we can discuss what the patient was looking for, and any photographic aberrations such as lighting or flash changes.
My website does not include any testimonials, as the use of testimonials in medical advertising has been illegal since 1st June 2010. If you would like to speak to patients whom have had procedures performed on them by me, we would be happy to put you in contact with patients that have had the same procedure as you are seeking, so that you receive a relevant opinion.
At the time that this website went live, we believe that we have kept the website within the advertising guidelines. If we become aware of infringements, we will address them as quickly as possible – we adjusted www.norwestplasticsurgery.com.au within two weeks after the guidelines were published.
