Published on 9 December, 2019 Confused by the different titles used by plastic, cosmetic and aesthetic surgeons in Australia? You aren’t alone.The results of a survey commissioned by the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons were released in 2019, highlighting widespread concern and confusion around the misuse of the title ‘surgeon’.According to the survey, 93% of Australians agree that it would be easier for patients to distinguish qualified surgeons from doctors, if medical professionals were to only use their Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) title. 92% of Australians believe that a patient’s safety is put at risk when a doctor performs surgery without having completed surgical training. 86% of Australians agree it is wrong that doctors without any surgical training are allowed to call themselves surgeons. 81% of Australians agree that the title cosmetic surgeon implies the doctor has completed surgical training. 77% of Australians are in support of calls to ban the term ‘cosmetic surgeon’, to help patients separate doctors from qualified surgeons. In 2023, Queensland become the first state in Australia to introduce legislation that will allow only doctors with advanced surgical training to use the title of surgeon.A loophole in the current regulatory framework still allows doctors who are not registered as Surgeons by AHPRA to perform surgery and advertise cosmetic surgery.The survey of over 2,000 Australians is the latest addition to mounting evidence pointing to the need to restrict the practice of surgery – to only doctors who are registered as specialist surgeons with AHPRA. AHPRA’s 2023 guidelines require doctors to use their official specialist registration title when advertising cosmetic surgery, but it does not prevent general practitioners, physicians or people who have only completed medical school from performing surgery. The survey provided measurements of understanding and beliefs around certain terms used to describe people who perform cosmetic surgery, with a total of 2,001 responses received over a three week period in October 2019.A qualified specialist plastic surgeon has completed not only their medical degree (indicated by the letters ‘MBBS’ in their credentials), but they have then completed an additional 7-10 years of post graduate surgical training.For Dr Sharp, this involved serving two years in regional and metropolitan hospitals as senior house officer and principal house officer, before being accepted onto the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons’ general surgery training program. He then spent three years training in general surgery, followed by an additional five years training under the College’s plastic surgery fellowship training program.This training culminates in a Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (indicated by the letters ‘FRACS’ in credentials).A RACS qualified plastic surgeon has the letters FRACS (Plast) after their name. Most plastic surgeons are members of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons and the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, which require them to comply with the societies’ codes of conduct; protecting patients and upholding world-class standards of professional conduct.In Australia, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeon’s fellowship programs are the only surgical training programs recognised by the Medical Board, however there is no legal requirement for doctors to operate on Australians. It is important to understand that if your doctor is not a registered member of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, they have not undergone the rigorous selection process, advanced surgical training and passed the clinical and theoretical examinations required to become a qualified plastic surgeon.Patient resources: ETo find out if your surgeon is a qualified plastic surgeon, visit the RACS Find A Surgeon portal ERead more about the survey results here EFor a refresher on what gives a qualified specialist plastic surgeon their title, click here
