Choosing a Plastic Surgeon in Australia

Surgeon Checklist

Before you book — verify

1. The surgeon appears on the AHPRA public register.
2. They hold specialist registration in surgery, not general registration alone.
3. They hold FRACS training in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
4. No conditions, undertakings or reprimands appear on their registration — or you have asked about any that do.
5. RACS fellowship, and ASPS or ASAPS membership where relevant.
6. The surgeon will conduct the consultation personally, not a coordinator.
7. Surgery will be performed in an accredited private hospital.

At consultation — ask

• Procedure experience. How often do you perform this specific procedure, and what approach do you favour?
• Anaesthesia. Who administers the anaesthetic, and are they a specialist anaesthetist?
• Risks and recovery. What are the main risks and the realistic recovery timeline? How are complications managed, and who do I contact after hours?
• Alternatives. Are there non-surgical or less invasive options appropriate for me, and what happens if I do nothing?
• Suitability. Am I a suitable patient, and what would make me unsuitable?
• Costs. What is included in the quote, and what happens financially if revision is needed?
• Decision timing. What is the cooling-off period, and can I seek a second opinion?

Take your time. Be cautious of pressure to book quickly or offers tied to a deposit, ask for an itemised written quote, and seek a second opinion if you are uncertain. Each item is expanded below.

Why Choosing the Right Surgeon Matters

Cosmetic surgery is still surgery. It carries real risks and depends on the training and judgement of the person performing it. The surgeon’s qualifications, hospital admitting rights and anaesthetic support all shape how safely a procedure is planned — and what happens if something goes wrong.

A common point of confusion is the word “surgeon” itself. Changes to the National Law in 2023, through the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Surgeons) Amendment Act, restricted the title so that only practitioners holding specialist registration in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, or ophthalmology may use it. New South Wales adopted this change. A doctor cannot describe themselves as a “cosmetic surgeon” unless they hold the relevant specialist registration.

That reform closed a gap but did not eliminate it. Titles used in marketing still vary, and the only reliable check is the register itself.

Specialist Plastic Surgeon Versus Cosmetic Surgeon

A Specialist Plastic Surgeon and a doctor who performs cosmetic procedures are not the same thing. The difference lies in the training pathway completed and the registration held.

“Specialist Plastic Surgeon” is a protected title requiring accredited FRACS training. The clearest way to confirm any surgeon’s training is to check their specialist registration on the AHPRA register rather than relying on a title used in marketing.

How to Verify a Plastic Surgeon’s Qualifications

You can confirm a surgeon’s training independently in a few minutes, and it is worth doing for every surgeon you consult.

1. Search the AHPRA public register. Search the AHPRA register by name and check four things: the registration type, whether they hold specialist registration in surgery (general registration is not the same), the registration number, and whether any conditions appear.

2. Understand what conditions mean. A condition restricts how a practitioner may work — limiting procedures, requiring supervision, or requiring further education. Undertakings and reprimands also appear publicly. None automatically means a practitioner is unsafe, but all are information you may ask about directly.

3. Check RACS fellowship. Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons reflects completion of accredited specialist surgical training, and RACS maintains a public directory of Fellows.

4. Check professional society membership. Membership of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons or the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons is a useful additional check — in addition to specialist registration, never a substitute for it.

5. Confirm hospital accreditation. Accredited private hospitals are assessed against the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, and they credential the surgeons who operate in them — meaning the hospital has independently reviewed that surgeon’s qualifications and scope of practice. Ask which hospital your procedure will take place in, confirm it is accredited rather than office-based, and ask whether the surgeon holds admitting rights there.

How to Read Before-and-After Photographs

Photographs are marketing material as well as clinical evidence, and they are easy to present misleadingly.

Consistency. Lighting, angle, distance and expression should match between frames. A change in posture, make-up, hair or clothing can create an apparent difference surgery did not produce.

Time elapsed. Ask how long after surgery the “after” image was taken. Swelling can flatter a result at six weeks that looks different at twelve months, and scars mature for a year or more.

Comparability. Consider whether the patient’s age, anatomy and starting point resemble yours. A good outcome in a different patient tells you little about what is achievable for you.

What a photograph cannot show. Recovery, complication rates, whether revision was needed, how the result looks in motion, or how many similar patients did not achieve that outcome.

Under AHPRA advertising requirements images must not be misleading or create an unreasonable expectation of benefit.

Choosing a Surgeon for a Specific Procedure

The framework on this page applies to any procedure. Some also warrant their own questions about technique, experience and assessment.

• Choosing a facelift surgeon
• Choosing a rhinoplasty surgeon
• Choosing a breast augmentation surgeon

What a Written Quote Should Contain

You are entitled to an itemised written quote before committing, and you should not accept a single combined figure. A complete quote separates:

• Surgeon’s fee for the procedure as planned
• Anaesthetist’s fee, billed separately
• Hospital or facility fee, including theatre time and any overnight stay
• Implants, prostheses or devices where applicable
• Follow-up appointments — how many, over what period
• Garments, dressings and post-operative items, and whether included
• Revision policy — when a revision would be performed, and who bears the surgeon’s, hospital and anaesthetist fees, as these are often treated differently
• What triggers additional cost — extended theatre time, unplanned admission, additional procedures identified during surgery, or complications requiring readmission
• Any Medicare or health fund rebate, and the estimated out-of-pocket cost

Compare quotes on what they include, not the headline figure. A lower total that excludes the anaesthetist, hospital and revision is not a lower total. Indicative figures are on the plastic surgery prices page.

Medicare, Health Fund Cover and Referrals

Whether any part of a procedure attracts a rebate depends on whether it is medically indicated rather than purely cosmetic.

Procedures performed solely to change appearance are not rebatable. Those addressing a functional problem, a congenital difference, or the consequences of disease, injury or significant weight loss may attract a Medicare rebate where they meet the criteria in the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Each rebatable procedure has an item number with defined clinical criteria attached — the criteria matter more than the procedure name, and two patients having what sounds like the same operation may be treated differently.

Where an item number applies, private health insurance may also contribute to the hospital and theatre component, subject to your cover and any waiting periods. Where none applies, neither Medicare nor your fund will contribute.

A GP referral is a precondition for any rebate, as well as an AHPRA requirement. Your surgeon should tell you whether an item number applies and which one, and that assessment should appear in your written quote. Eligibility is determined by Medicare and your health fund, not by the practice.

Psychological Assessment and Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Cosmetic surgery changes appearance. It does not reliably change how a person feels about themselves, and for some patients the distress motivating surgery has a cause surgery cannot address. This is why psychological assessment is built into the regulatory pathway rather than left to discretion.

What screening involves. Every patient is assessed by the surgeon at consultation as part of determining suitability — what you hope surgery will achieve, whether those expectations are realistic, what is driving the decision and its timing, and whether there is any indication of an underlying condition surgery would not help.

When formal assessment is recommended. Where that discussion raises indicators, the surgeon refers the patient to a registered psychologist, psychiatrist or GP for formal assessment. Under the AHPRA guidelines referral is mandatory for patients under 18, and required for adults where indicators are present. It is not a judgement, and it does not mean surgery will be refused.

Body dysmorphic disorder. BDD is a recognised psychiatric condition involving persistent, distressing preoccupation with a perceived flaw others notice little or not at all. It is more common among people seeking cosmetic procedures than in the general population. Surgery generally does not relieve the distress, and the preoccupation often transfers to another feature afterwards — which is why the guidelines specifically require screening for it. BDD is treatable; the effective treatments are not surgical.

Getting a Second Opinion

A second opinion is a normal part of a considered decision, and no reasonable surgeon will be offended by one.

When to seek one. If you feel rushed or pressured, if the recommended procedure is more extensive than expected, if you were offered procedures you had not asked about, if risks were covered only briefly, or simply because the decision is significant.

How to arrange it. Ask your GP for a referral to another Specialist Plastic Surgeon. It is a fresh consultation and will normally carry its own fee.

What to bring. Your referral, the written quote and information pack, any imaging, your medical history, and a note of what the first surgeon recommended and why — which lets the second assess the reasoning rather than start from scratch.

If the opinions differ substantially, be more cautious of the surgeon who dismisses the other’s view than of the one who engages with it.

Red Flags When Choosing a Cosmetic Surgery Practitioner

Treat the following as reasons to pause and verify before going further.

• No AHPRA number provided, or unclear registration status
• No FRACS qualification, or unclear specialist training
• No GP referral required
• Pressure to book immediately
• Time-limited discounts, or a discount tied to paying a deposit
• Major surgery offered in an office or non-hospital theatre
• A consultation led by a coordinator or salesperson rather than the operating surgeon
• Guaranteed outcome claims
• Heavy reliance on influencer-style marketing or social media promotion
• Before-and-after photographs that appear heavily edited or inconsistently taken
• Little or no discussion of risk
• Refusal to provide hospital or anaesthetist details
• No discussion of psychological suitability
• Reluctance to provide an itemised written quote
• Discouragement from seeking a second opinion

If you feel uncertain, pause, verify the practitioner on the AHPRA register, and consider an independent second opinion. There is no procedure for which a week’s delay causes harm.

AHPRA Requirements Before Cosmetic Surgery

Under the AHPRA cosmetic surgery guidelines the pathway before surgery follows defined steps. These are requirements, not courtesies, and a practice that skips them is not compliant.

1. GP or specialist referral before the first consultation.
2. First consultation with the operating surgeon — the surgeon who will perform the procedure, not a delegate.
3. Psychological screening, with referral for formal assessment where clinically indicated, and mandatory referral for patients under 18.
4. Written information about risks, recovery, expected outcomes and costs.
5. Second consultation, in person or by video, with the surgeon or another suitably qualified health practitioner.
6. A cooling-off period of at least seven days between giving informed consent and the date of surgery. The period runs from consent, not from the first consultation.
7. Formal consent and booking, only once every preceding step is complete.
8. Surgery in an accredited facility appropriate to the procedure, with appropriate anaesthetic support.

Additional requirements apply to patients under 18, including a mandatory three-month cooling-off period.

Dr Turner follows this pathway for every patient, with surgery performed at Bondi Junction Private Hospital, Delmar Private Hospital in Dee Why, or East Sydney Private Hospital.

Choosing a Surgeon in Sydney: Local Considerations

If you are consulting in Sydney, weigh the surgical setting alongside the surgeon’s qualifications. Dr Turner consults at Bondi Junction in the Eastern Suburbs and at Manly on the Northern Beaches, with surgery performed at accredited Sydney private hospitals. Patients across the Eastern Suburbs, the Northern Beaches, Dee Why and the Sydney CBD consult locally, and interstate patients travelling to Sydney follow a staged pathway with consultation and follow-up adapted to where they live. All consulting rooms are listed on the clinics page.

About Dr Scott J Turner FRACS

Dr Scott J Turner is a Specialist Plastic Surgeon (FRACS, AHPRA MED0001654827) who has been in private practice in Sydney since 2013 — his qualifications, training, hospital appointments and consultation process are set out in full on his profile page.

Related Patient Resources

• Choosing a facelift surgeon
• Choosing a rhinoplasty surgeon
• Choosing a breast augmentation surgeon
• Risks and complications of cosmetic surgery
• Patient resources