What do the letters after a surgeon’s name mean?
The letters show how far a surgeon’s training has gone. MBChB is a medical degree. MRCS is an exam taken early in surgical training. FRCS (Plast) is the final exam in plastic surgery, and the GMC Specialist Register is the status that follows it. For cosmetic surgery the Specialist Register is the one to check, and you can do it yourself in two minutes.
Clinic websites put letters after every surgeon’s name, and it is hard to tell which ones matter. Some take ten years or more to earn. Others are held by every doctor in the country. This guide goes through them in the order a surgeon earns them.
How long does each qualification take?
A plastic surgeon’s training runs in a fixed order, and each step has its own letters. The years below are counted from the day a doctor leaves medical school.
- Every doctor has this
GMC registered
Every doctor practising in the UK must be on the GMC register. It is the legal minimum to work as a doctor, held even in the first year after medical school, and says nothing about surgical training.
From qualifying - Early surgical training
MRCS
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. An exam passed early in surgical training, before any specialty is completed. It is not a specialist qualification.
Usually 2 to 4 years after qualifying - End of specialist training
FRCS(Plast)
The fellowship exam in plastic surgery, taken towards the end of specialist training.
Usually 8 to 10 years after qualifying - The one to check
GMC Specialist Register
Entry means specialist training is complete, or equivalent training and experience has been shown, and the register says in which specialty. For plastic surgery, training after medical school is usually at least 10 years: 2 foundation years, 2 years of core surgical training and 6 years of specialty training.
Usually 10 years or more after qualifyingCheck a surgeon on the GMC register - Optional extra
Board Certified in cosmetic surgery (ICSB)
A voluntary certification from the Intercollegiate Cosmetic Surgery Board, supported by the surgical Royal Colleges. Only surgeons already on the Specialist Register can apply. It is awarded for specific areas of cosmetic surgery, such as the face or the breast, after a review of training and cosmetic surgery experience, and is renewed every five years. It is an extra, not a requirement.
After joining the Specialist Register
Years after qualifying from medical school, which itself takes 5 or 6 years. Timings vary between doctors.
If a clinic describes its surgeons as “GMC registered” or “Member of the Royal College of Surgeons” and never mentions the Specialist Register, it usually means they are not on it. Those are the credentials of every doctor and of a surgeon early in training. A surgeon may have trained or worked in plastic surgery abroad, sometimes for years, but if the GMC has not recognised that training, they cannot join the Specialist Register.
What does each set of letters mean?
Every doctor has these
MBChB, MBBS, BM BSMedical degree
Usually five or six years at medical school. The letters vary by university and mean the same thing.
GMC registeredLegal minimum
Registered with the General Medical Council and licensed to practise. Every working doctor in the UK has to be, from a junior doctor in their first year to a senior consultant. It says nothing about surgical training.
Surgical training
MRCSEarly surgical exam
Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. An exam taken in the first years of surgical training, usually two to four years after qualifying. A doctor needs it to start specialist training, so it marks the beginning of that training.
Mr, Miss, Ms, MrsA title, not a qualification
By tradition, surgeons in the UK go back to Mr, Miss, Ms or Mrs in place of “Dr”, usually once they have the MRCS. The title tells you someone is training or working as a surgeon. It does not tell you they have finished specialist training.
FRCS (Plast)Final specialist exam
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in plastic surgery. The exam taken towards the end of specialist training in plastic surgery, usually eight to ten years after qualifying. (Plast) names the specialty.
FRCS in another specialty, FRCOphthThe same level in other specialties
FRCS (ORL-HNS) is ear, nose and throat surgery. FRCS (OMFS) is oral and maxillofacial surgery. FRCS (Gen Surg) is general surgery, which includes breast surgery. FRCS (Tr & Orth) is trauma and orthopaedic surgery. FRCOphth is ophthalmology. Surgeons in these specialties do some cosmetic operations within their own area, such as an ENT surgeon operating on the nose.
FRCS with nothing in bracketsDepends on the surgeon’s era
Until roughly the 1990s the FRCS was a general exam taken early in training, the stage now marked by the MRCS. Many senior consultants list plain FRCS for that reason. FRCS (Ed), FRCS (Eng) and FRCS (Glasg) name the college that awarded it and say nothing about the specialty, so check the Specialist Register.
CCTEnd of UK training
Certificate of Completion of Training. The GMC awards it when a surgeon finishes specialist training in the UK, and it lets them join the Specialist Register.
Portfolio pathwayThe route for other training
Formerly called CESR. The GMC assesses a surgeon’s knowledge, skills and experience against the standard for a UK specialist. Surgeons who trained abroad, or outside a UK training programme, join the Specialist Register this way.
Specialist status
GMC Specialist RegisterThe one to check
The GMC’s list of doctors who have completed specialist training in the UK, or whose knowledge, skills and experience the GMC has assessed against the standard for a UK specialist. Each entry names the specialty, such as plastic surgery. A doctor has to be on it to take up a substantive NHS consultant post.
ConsultantA job title
A substantive NHS consultant has to be on the Specialist Register. Outside the NHS the title is not controlled in the same way, so check the register and not the title.
Cosmetic surgeon, plastic surgeonTitles, not qualifications
Any GMC-registered doctor can legally use these titles, with or without specialist surgical training.
Optional extras
Board Certified in cosmetic surgery (ICSB)Voluntary certification
A voluntary scheme run by the Intercollegiate Cosmetic Surgery Board for the Royal Colleges of Surgeons. It is open to surgeons who are already on the Specialist Register in a relevant specialty. A surgeon is certified for the areas they practise, such as the breast, the nose or the face, and the certificate lasts five years.
BAAPS, BAPRAS, ISAPSProfessional associations
The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, the British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. A surgeon joins these, and none of them is an exam. Full membership of BAAPS or BAPRAS requires the Specialist Register for plastic surgery, and BAAPS expects its members to submit an audit of their operations every year. ISAPS sets its own criteria.
FEBOPRASEuropean exam
Fellow of the European Board of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. An optional European exam that some UK surgeons sit as well as the FRCS (Plast). On its own it gives no right to practise in the UK.
MD, PhD, MScUniversity degrees
Research and academic degrees. They show research or further study, not surgical training. In the United States “MD” is the medical degree itself.
FellowshipExtra training, no letters
A profile may say “fellowship-trained in microsurgery” or similar. A fellowship is a period of extra training in one area, usually after specialist training. It is not the same as being a Fellow (FRCS).
You may also see FRCA after an anaesthetist’s name (Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists), MRCGP after a GP’s and MRCP after a physician’s. These are qualifications in other branches of medicine, not in surgery.
Which letters matter most for cosmetic surgery?
The GMC Specialist Register, in a specialty that fits your operation. For a plastic surgeon trained in the UK that usually goes with FRCS (Plast). Everything before it is a stage on the way, and everything after it is an optional extra.
Watch for “Member of the Royal College of Surgeons”. That is the MRCS, the early exam. FRCS with a specialty in brackets, such as FRCS (Plast), is the final one. The two are several years of training apart, and on a clinic website they look almost the same.
What about surgeons who trained abroad?
A surgeon may have trained in plastic surgery in another country and worked in it for years. They will hold that country’s specialist qualification in place of the FRCS (Plast). To be recognised here, a surgeon who trained outside the UK applies to the GMC, which assesses their knowledge, skills and experience against the standard for a UK specialist. If they meet it, they join the Specialist Register.
Every surgeon is checked against the same register. A surgeon whose overseas training has been recognised in the UK is on it. One who is not on it has not had that training recognised by the GMC, however long they have been operating.
Does it have to be a plastic surgeon?
Not always, but the specialty should fit the operation. Plastic surgery training covers cosmetic surgery of the face, breast and body. Surgeons from other specialties operate within their own area: an ENT surgeon on the nose, an eye surgeon on the eyelids, a breast surgeon on the breast. Each entry on the Specialist Register names the specialty, so you can check that it matches. If the doctor has no specialist entry, or one in an unrelated field, the GMC has not recognised specialist training relevant to your operation. Ask what training they have had in it. There is no legal requirement for a doctor who operates privately to be on the Specialist Register, although the Royal College of Surgeons of England strongly advises patients to choose one who is.
How do I check a surgeon in two minutes?
- Ask the clinic for the full name of the surgeon who would operate on you, and their GMC number. A clinic should give you both before you pay for anything.
- Go to the GMC’s online register and search for the name or number.
- Open the surgeon’s entry. It says whether the doctor is on the Specialist Register, in which specialty, and since when.
- If you want to check the extras, BAAPS has a member search on its website, and the Royal College of Surgeons of England publishes a register of Board Certified surgeons.
If a clinic will not name the surgeon until after you have booked, treat that as a warning. Our guide to 15 red flags when choosing a cosmetic surgeon covers this and the other signs.
Do the letters explain a price difference?
They can be part of it. Quotes for the same operation can differ by thousands of pounds, and one thing to compare between them is who operates. Two quotes can look like this:
Both clinics may call their surgeons qualified, and both are allowed to operate. The surgeon in Quote A may have trained or worked in plastic surgery abroad, sometimes for many years, but unless the GMC has recognised that training they cannot join the Specialist Register. Only the surgeon in Quote B has specialist training the GMC recognises. Ask each clinic to fill in this table for the surgeon who would operate on you.
What do the letters not tell you?
They show training. They do not show how often a surgeon does your operation, what their results look like, or how you will be looked after if something goes wrong. Ask each surgeon you see:
- how many of this operation they do in a year
- whether you can see before and after photographs of their own patients
- who you contact after surgery, and who would treat a complication
- whether they will be the person who examines you, takes your consent and operates
Our guide to choosing a cosmetic surgery clinic in Scotland goes through the rest.
Who operates at Waterfront?
Mr Omar Quaba, who wrote this guide
His profile reads: FRCS (Plast), GMC Specialist Register (number 4586300), Board Certified in cosmetic surgery, full member of BAAPS and ISAPS. With this guide you can read each part of that line, and check the register entry yourself.
Every plastic surgeon who operates with us is on the GMC Specialist Register for plastic surgery. Each surgeon’s profile, linked from our team page, gives their GMC number, so you can check the register yourself before you come. Our hand surgeon is on the Specialist Register for trauma and orthopaedic surgery, the specialty that fits her work.
Several of our surgeons are also full members of BAAPS or BAPRAS, and some are Board Certified in cosmetic surgery. Their own pages say which. At your first consultation you meet the surgeon who would operate on you. You can book online or call the team on 0131 376 3785.
Questions patients ask
What does FRCS (Plast) mean? Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in plastic surgery. It is the exam taken towards the end of specialist training in plastic surgery in the UK, usually passed eight to ten years after a doctor leaves medical school. A surgeon who holds it and has completed training can join the GMC Specialist Register for plastic surgery.
What is the difference between MRCS and FRCS? MRCS is an exam taken in the first years of surgical training, and a doctor needs it to start specialist training. FRCS with a specialty in brackets, such as FRCS (Plast), is the exam taken towards the end of that training. There are several years of specialist training between the two.
Is “GMC registered” the same as being on the Specialist Register? No. Every doctor working in the UK is GMC registered, including doctors in their first year. The Specialist Register is a separate list of doctors who have completed specialist training, or whose knowledge, skills and experience the GMC has assessed against the standard for a UK specialist. A surgeon’s entry on the GMC website shows whether they are on it and in which specialty.
What qualifications should a cosmetic surgeon have in the UK? Look for a surgeon on the GMC Specialist Register in a specialty that fits your operation, such as plastic surgery. A UK-trained plastic surgeon will usually also hold FRCS (Plast). Membership of BAAPS or BAPRAS and Board Certification in cosmetic surgery are extras on top.
How do I check a surgeon’s qualifications? Ask the clinic for the surgeon’s full name and GMC number, then search the GMC’s online register. The entry shows whether the doctor is on the Specialist Register, in which specialty, and since when. It is free and takes about two minutes.
Is “cosmetic surgeon” a protected title? No. Any GMC-registered doctor can legally call themselves a cosmetic surgeon or a plastic surgeon, with or without specialist surgical training. The law only stops people who are not registered doctors from using the title “surgeon”. Look at the surgeon’s entry on the Specialist Register, not the title.
Are BAAPS and BAPRAS qualifications? No. They are professional associations that surgeons join. Full membership of BAAPS or BAPRAS requires a surgeon to be on the GMC Specialist Register for plastic surgery, so membership is a useful extra sign on top of the register.
Ready to talk it through?
Book a consultation online, call the team, or send us a question first.