career in plastics???

[radsfan]

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How feasible is it to have a successful career in plastics with minimal/no cosmetics patients?? I find them tiresome and often with subclinical psych issues.

obviously there's the academic route; but is there any hope in private practice??

 

[nolands]

I was wondering the same thing....anyone know the answer?

 

[doc05]

I know that academics involves mostly reconstructive work. Maybe dr. oliver can offer some advice??

 

[Celiac Plexus]

How feasible is it to have a successful career in plastics with minimal/no cosmetics patients?? I find them tiresome and often with subclinical psych issues.

obviously there's the academic route; but is there any hope in private practice??

the plastic surgeons i know mostly do not do cosmetic procedures. there is one guy who does a fair amount, but in general the other guiys are too busy with their own areas of interest to do much cosmetic work... then again these guys are mostly academic types specializing in flaps, craniofacial, hand, breast recon, etc... perhaps life is different for private practice plastics guys...

 

[surggal]

How feasible is it to have a successful career in plastics with minimal/no cosmetics patients?? I find them tiresome and often with subclinical psych issues.

obviously there's the academic route; but is there any hope in private practice??

Certainly you could go into private practice with a focus on hand. Without an academic affiliation, the hand you will see is likely to be largely elective (carpal tunnel, etc.).

As far as major reconstructive cases, it may be difficult to build a strong referral network. I say this based on what I have been told by attendings who do mostly recon, but obviously have no personal experience with this matter.

If you are looking to go the academic route, you should try to schedule a rotation (or 2) at a program that does a lot of recon in order to get a feel for the caseload and lifestyle. Personally, I want to do academics with a focus on hand. Most residents and attendings alike will tell you that it helps to do at least a little cosmetics, but I have met a rare few that don't do any cosmetics at all.

 

[radsfan]

bump. any thoughts, droliver?

 

[droliver]

There's actually quite a bit of work available for those willing to do reconstructive surgery, hand surgery, and wound care. Alot of that has to do with the poor reimbursement with alot of that kind of work, especially given the large amount of non-reimbursed post-op care many of these patients demand. You can make a fairly nice living doing this work, but you really have to do a large volume of small procedures to get ahead doing it. Less and less really complicated reconstructive work is being done outside tertiary referral centers these days. Very few people outside of teaching programs will do free-flaps, replants, complex facial fractures, and (in some areas) autologous breast reconstruction