Fake cosmetic surgeon?

[Chemistry>Physics]

A guy I volunteer with at the hospital was telling me what his dad did for a living and briefly told me that he was a doctor. I was interested and asked him what kind he was / where he went to med school. He told me that his dad went to a med school where he grew up (China) and did a family medicine residency in China. Nothing really alarming about that, kind of typical. But here comes the weird part, he said "But about 5 years ago he just decided that family medicine wasn't for him and he decided to start a cosmetic surgery practice". I don't know how someone can switch specialties like that, especially going into surgery. I said wow, that sounds like quite the challenge he undertook. I assumed he was still in residency for cosmetic surgery but he told me that he wasn't, all he did was just start a new practice. Now a couple of things could be wrong, and maybe I don't know enough about residency programs in China, but this sounds either too good to be true or illegal.

Just a couple of years ago "fake" plastic surgeons were found in southern California, and I think they had the same case. But am I right? Is this illegal?

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[Promethean]

It is possible that your friend is full of crap, either deliberately or because he misunderstands the situation.

it is hard to make any judgment based on third hand information.

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

Maybe he does Botox injections in his office and your friend doesn't understand what a surgeon is.

 

[Promethean]

Maybe he does Botox injections in his office and your friend doesn't understand what a surgeon is.

Yes. This is one of the scenarios I envisioned.

It is possible that there really are shennanigans going on, but that is a very bad assumption to make based on too little information.

 

[The Buff OP]

I mean it is not required to be board certified to practice cosmetic surgery, so hmmm.

 

[IlDestriero]

You can open your own office and do whatever you want, with certain facility limitations. He probably does cosmetic procedures, like Botox, laser, sclero therapy of spider veins, "anti aging" vitamins, non surgical procedures for cellulite, selling creams salves and ointments, more vitamins, colonics, snake oil, etc.
You don't have to be a plastic surgeon or dermatologist to do that. Though they wish you did.
I know an anesthesiologist that quit and did this about 15 years ago. He lives in a 15,000 sq ft palace in the best zip code in the area.