Six Red Flags to Check Before You Book Plastic Surgery

Published 2026-09-29 by the BeautyVetted editorial team · Written by the BeautyVetted team, sources linked in the text

Most people choose a surgeon from photos, reviews and a feeling after the consultation. Those matter. A few public records matter too, and every one of them is free to check, takes minutes, and needs nothing more than the surgeon’s full name and the state where they practice.

Each flag below points to the record that answers it. A flag is a reason to ask a question, and it is rarely the whole answer on its own.

1. No current certification in plastic surgery

The American Board of Plastic Surgery runs a free public search that tells you whether a surgeon holds a current certificate. Certification is voluntary and sits on top of a medical license, so a physician can operate legally without it. If the surgeon you are considering is not certified in plastic surgery, ask which board certified them and in what specialty. Our guide to verifying board certification walks through every source.

2. Board actions on the license

A state medical board can reprimand, fine, restrict, suspend or revoke a license, and those final orders are public. DocInfo, run by the Federation of State Medical Boards, searches license status and disciplinary history across states in one place. In Florida, the Department of Health’s license search shows each practitioner’s license and any final orders. An action from years ago may say little about today, and a recent one deserves a direct question.

3. A federal exclusion

The HHS Office of Inspector General publishes the List of Excluded Individuals and Entities. A person on it may not be paid by Medicare, Medicaid or other federal health programs, and the reasons include convictions for health care fraud and the loss of a license in another state. The search is free and names the date and the legal basis for each exclusion.

4. Surgery in an office that should be registered

Some operations happen in a surgeon’s own office suite. Florida law requires an office to register with the Department of Health before it performs liposuction that removes more than 1,000 cubic centimeters of fat, Level II or Level III office surgery, or gluteal fat grafting. The department inspects an office before it registers it, and an office accredited by a nationally recognized agency approved by the board is exempt from the yearly inspections that follow. Ask where your procedure will take place, whether that office is registered, and who accredits it.

5. No clear answer about anesthesia

You should know who will put you to sleep or sedate you, and what license that person holds. Anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists hold state licenses, and you can look them up by name in the state’s license search, the same way you look up the surgeon. If the practice cannot tell you who it will be, treat that as a question to settle before you pay a deposit.

6. A price far below everyone else in your city

Prices vary for good reasons: experience, the facility, the anesthesia and what the quote includes. A quote well under the rest of your city is worth a closer look at what it leaves out. Our cost pages list what a full quote usually covers.

How BeautyVetted uses these records

We have checked every surgeon in this directory who has a National Provider Identifier against the federal exclusion list, most recently in September 2026. Our free surgeon check shows what we confirmed about a surgeon we list, with the source and the date.