Plastic surgeons worldwide share common goals
As the 20th president of the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS), it is an honor for me to address you through the pages of PSN.
ISAPS was founded 40 years ago at the United Nations in New York. What began with a handful of members has now grown into an international society of 2,000 members from 91 countries with two primary goals: improving the safety of our patients and the global teaching of aesthetic plastic surgery.
Our Education Council, now chaired by Nazim Cerkes, MD, Turkey, coordinates two to three formal courses each year in addition to reviewing and endorsing programs organized by our members and their national societies. Our mission is to bring educational programming to as wide an audience as possible, especially to regions with surgeons less likely to be able to attend such meetings and courses abroad. In doing this, we are in constant contact with our members to determine their practice needs. And by teaching new, innovative and safe procedures, we also augment our goal of promoting patient safety.
Magnificent meeting, eye-opening information
In August, under the direction of ISAPS immediate-past President Foad Nahai, MD, and former Education Council Chair and Congress Scientific Program Chair Renato Saltz, MD, many of you had the opportunity to attend the magnificent ISAPS 20th Congress in San Francisco.
Just prior to the opening of the Congress, ISAPS released the results of the first global survey of aesthetic plastic surgery procedures. The results garnered immediate global media attention and helped reverse some long-held assumptions - for instance, liposuction (18.8 percent) topped breast augmentation (17 percent) as the most common cosmetic surgical procedure performed worldwide. The survey also revealed that while the United States remains the country where the most cosmetic procedures are performed each year, countries not always associated with plastic surgery are emerging as major centers, including China (No. 2), India (No. 4) and South Korea (No. 7). The results are posted on the ISAPS website at isaps.org/stats.php and will be continually updated as more data is collected.
The opening session of the Congress - the "Global Summit on Patient Safety," designed by Drs. Nahai and Saltz - created both controversy and sparked an awakening to real issues that confront both our patients and our profession. In our future programming efforts, we plan to carry forward the dialogue on the change in our culture, which leads many patients to foreign countries for their surgery - not always safely.
Switzerland in 2012
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who contributed to the success of the 20th Congress, which was attended by plastic surgeons from 83 countries. Those of you who have been to several of our meetings know that each gets better than the one that came before. Our next Biennial Congress will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sept. 3-7, 2012. It would be my pleasure to welcome you to my country for this unique event.
Over the past several years, ISAPS has initiated dialogue with many national aesthetic and reconstructive societies, including ASPS, to discuss issues that involve us all. This will continue during my presidency, as I will continue to promote increased cooperation among all plastic surgery organizations. It is important that we work together to strengthen our specialty. Most of us have interests in both aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgery - these two aspects of our specialty are not separable and, therefore, we all have the same goals. I am looking forward to a great future for our specialty with united efforts by all our societies.
Jan Pöell, MD, succeeded Foad Nahai, MD, as ISAPS president during the organization's biennial congress in August. Dr. Pöell practices in St. Gallen, Switzerland. He can be reached via email at poell.prs@bluewin.ch.
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