I like Burn & hand Surgery but no cosmetics

[N-transition]

I am thinking about going into Plastics becasue I am really interested in Burn reconstruction and hand surgery. I've seen some procedures and they blew my mind. But I am not into cosmetic surgery (lipo, breast augmentation, body contouring etc...) at all. Is it possilbe , realistic even, to have a sucessfull career in Plastics doing burn reconstruction and hand surgery but not performing any cosmetic procedures? I appreciate any info you can offer.

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[DrDre']

You could do gsurg> burn
gsurg, plastics or ortho> hand
If you stay in academia at a big burn ctr, you could probably easily escape from cosmesis. However, the best would be gsurg>burn or hand.

Even in academia, pressure will be put on you to do cosmetics if you are PRS because of increased reimbursement.

The chronicity of burn care coupled with the majority of burns occuring in lower SES individuals means private practice burn work is not feasible financially or institutionally, to my knowledge.

 

[N-transition]

Dr. Dre,
Thanks for rapid reply. I have heard of gsurg> burn. But I have not heard of gsug> hand. Are there hand fellowships out there for g-sugeons. Or would I have to do g-surg first, then psurg fellowship, and then do a hand fellowship. Do you any academic center that offer the hand fellowships to g-surgeons.

 

[droliver]

The chronicity of burn care coupled with the majority of burns occuring in lower SES individuals means private practice burn work is not feasible financially or institutionally, to my knowledge.

Not quite true. Often burn units are some of the most profitable (if not the most) parts of hospitals. This is due to workman's compensation reimbursement rates which pay for everything @ nearly full price. A fair number of burns are industrial/occupational and fall into this, and a few of the larger burns (with the fees generated) can more then subsidize most units. It's kind of like the ER in terms of $$ potential being tied to the payer mix. Most burn units do pretty well I'm told when they have a good industrial base.

 

[DrDre']

Should have waited for the expert to weigh in! THx Dr. O. You must be very busy- we miss you around here. Where I am from, there isn't a big industrial base. It is usually "stupid human" stuff which leads to burns- usually "self pay"


Dr. O, I've got to tell you when I read your screen name, I only see drole-liver- like funny liver, 1/2 french.