Check if a plastic surgeon is board certified

What verified means here

A listing is marked verified only when a public source was read, exactly one record matches on surname, given name and state, and the profile then publishes three things: the source, the date it was read, and a link to the page itself. You can repeat the check. That is the whole standard, and nothing else buys it.

The other 2,328 surgeon listings are not surgeons who failed a check. They are surgeons we had nowhere to look for. The American Board of Plastic Surgery does not allow automated queries, and most states publish nothing about board certification that the public can search, so for most listings there was no source to read. This site never says a named doctor is uncertified, because no source we can reach is able to prove that.

Where we check

10 public sources produced the 879 confirmed certifications. Of those sources, two are specialty boards answering about their own diplomates, two are state physician registries and six are state lists where the surgeon reports their own certifications. A state registry lists every certification a licensed doctor holds. The self-reported lists carry 609 of the confirmations, which is a weaker record than a board check. Every profile says which kind it is in the sentence under the badge.

• the Medical Board of California surgeon reports their own certifications 342 confirmed
• the Florida practitioner profile surgeon reports their own certifications 175 confirmed
• the New York State Physician Profile 173 confirmed
• the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine 40 confirmed
• the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 38 confirmed
• the New Jersey doctor list surgeon reports their own certifications 29 confirmed
• the Virginia practitioner profile surgeon reports their own certifications 22 confirmed
• the Maryland Board of Physicians surgeon reports their own certifications 22 confirmed
• the Ohio licence record surgeon reports their own certifications 19 confirmed
• the American Board of Surgery 19 confirmed

Most of these registries answer per doctor rather than at one address, so the link that matters is on the profile: every verified surgeon's page links to the exact record we read. We do not scrape or query the American Board of Plastic Surgery or the American Board of Medical Specialties.

What each state publishes, and how much of its listed pool that let us confirm, is broken out state by state and metro by metro in board certification by state .

How to check a surgeon yourself

You do not need this site to answer the question. The primary source is open to the public and it takes about a minute.

1. Open the American Board of Plastic Surgery register and search the surgeon's surname and state. It is the body that certifies most plastic surgeons in the United States, and its record is the primary source.
2. Read what the certificate is in. A doctor can hold a real board certification in another specialty, such as otolaryngology or general surgery, and that is a different credential from plastic surgery.
3. If the surgeon is a facial plastic surgeon, check the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as well. It publishes its own physician finder.
4. Check your state's physician profile if it publishes one. A state registry lists the certifications a licensed doctor holds, and it also shows the licence itself.

This page explains how credentials are published and checked. It is not medical advice, and a credential is one fact among several in choosing a surgeon.

Questions

The full method, including what this site will never do, is on how we verify.