Thoughts on ASDS cosmetic fellowships

[dermishy]

Matched at a program without a lot of cosmetic derm training (which is fine and I was happy to match there). Since I genuinely like cosmetics and want to do lots of it in the future (and want to do it really well), I'm considering doing an ASDS cosmetic derm fellowship after residency to gain some experience before venturing out to practice. Since I don't actually know of anyone who did this sort of fellowship, was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/info-- whether it's actually worth doing a non-ACGME accredited fellowship purely for the sake of learning cosmetics, how competitive it is to get a spot (since there are only 10 programs listed on the ASDS website-- but I also can't imagine that there are too many applicants), etc. Thanks!

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[asmallchild]

Matched at a program without a lot of cosmetic derm training (which is fine and I was happy to match there). Since I genuinely like cosmetics and want to do lots of it in the future (and want to do it really well), I'm considering doing an ASDS cosmetic derm fellowship after residency to gain some experience before venturing out to practice. Since I don't actually know of anyone who did this sort of fellowship, was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/info-- whether it's actually worth doing a non-ACGME accredited fellowship purely for the sake of learning cosmetics, how competitive it is to get a spot (since there are only 10 programs listed on the ASDS website-- but I also can't imagine that there are too many applicants), etc. Thanks!

Is it worth it? You'll have to decide that for yourself. Many just choose to attend courses at the AAD, ASDS, assorted cosmetic conferences, etc... If you genuinely like cosmetics and want to do lots of it (particularly in a high demand area), you'll probably want to consider fellowship

Is it competitive? Yes, many of these are crossover programs which means they have a Mohs fellow and a cosmetics fellow or they take multiple fellows who will have exposure to both Mohs and cosmetics. You'll need excellent LORs to apply. You would be surprised at how many applications these programs receive

 

[qvc804]

Matched at a program without a lot of cosmetic derm training (which is fine and I was happy to match there). Since I genuinely like cosmetics and want to do lots of it in the future (and want to do it really well), I'm considering doing an ASDS cosmetic derm fellowship after residency to gain some experience before venturing out to practice. Since I don't actually know of anyone who did this sort of fellowship, was wondering if anyone had any thoughts/info-- whether it's actually worth doing a non-ACGME accredited fellowship purely for the sake of learning cosmetics, how competitive it is to get a spot (since there are only 10 programs listed on the ASDS website-- but I also can't imagine that there are too many applicants), etc. Thanks!

I think if you wish to incorporate a lot of cosmetics or do entirely cosmetics in your practice, then doing a 1 year cosmetics fellowship might be in your best interest, since you know already you won't be getting much cosmetics training in residency (it happens). I think it can help in saturated areas in which clients have a lot of choice and will scrutinize credentials a lot more, due to being self-pay.

You'll be amazed by how many residents want to fully cash out (not you, specifically) by the end of 3 years of residency even at programs with enough cosmetics training, so these ASDS cosmetics fellowships can be pretty competitive. Names and great LORs as @asmallchild mentioned, matter a lot here.

I think these 2 links will help you:

http://www.asds.net/Cosmetic-accreditation -- you can see how many cases each program has for each cosmetic procedure

http://www.asds.net/ASDSPreceptorshipProgram.aspx