To provide assurance that a certified medical specialist has successfully completed an approved educational program and an evaluation including an examination process designed to assess the knowledge, experience and skill requisite to the provision of high quality patient care in the specialty of plastic surgery.

The essential purposes of the American Board of Plastic Surgery are to establish requirements for the qualifications of applicants in the field of plastic surgery and to issue certificates to those who meet the Board's requirements and pass the rigorous examinations. 

The American Board of Plastic Surgery is one of only 24 accredited specialty boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. 

The American Board of Medical Specialties is expressly designed to provide public protection through quality control in medical education; and only through recognition by the American Board of Medical Specialties can a specialty board gain full access to resources of the entire spectrum of graduate medical education. (The resources include such entities as the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the National Board of Medical Examiners.) 

Any Diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Inc., will have met the Board's educational and plastic surgery training requirements. Specific clinical training is provided in the many areas of reconstructive and cosmetic surgery including aesthetic surgery of the head and neck, trunk and extremities, and plastic surgery of the breast. 

Specific procedures commonly performed by plastic surgeons include, but are not limited to, body contouring, facial contouring, breast augmentation, breast lift (mastopexy), facelift, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, skin peeling and dermabrasion, liposuction, endoscopic cosmetic surgery, and laser aesthetic surgery. 

Plastic surgeons who are certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and who are members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons have undergone rigorous training and have been evaluated by their peers on their practice of plastic surgery, from both the technical and ethical perspectives. 

Once you are sure of your surgeon's certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, it may also be useful to consider how many years of plastic surgery experience they have had, what areas they specialize in, and whether or not you feel comfortable with the surgeon and their staff. Dr. Pletsch has over 30 years of experience in plastic surgery and specializes in aesthetic surgery.

Visit our plastic / cosmetic surgery offices located in  Scotts Valley and Monterey, CA, near the Santa Cruz, San Jose and San Francisco, California (CA) area.