How We Vet Every Surgeon: The Plastik Tour Standard

When you're considering plastic surgery abroad, the surgeon is everything.

Not the price. Not the city. Not the before-and-after photos you found on Instagram. The surgeon.

And yet, most medical tourism companies make it nearly impossible to know who, exactly, is going to operate on you — and whether that person is truly qualified. We built Plastik Tour to be different. This is what our vetting process actually looks like.

Why Surgeon Vetting Matters More Than You Think

97.2% of medical tourists say that trust is their number one deciding factor when choosing where to have surgery abroad. But trust can't be manufactured by a website that lists credentials you can't verify or displays testimonials with no names attached.

Real trust is earned through a transparent, rigorous, repeatable process.

Every surgeon in the Plastik Tour network has gone through that process. No exceptions.

Step 1: Board Certification Verification

The first thing we check — before anything else — is board certification.

In Colombia, the governing body for plastic surgeons is the Sociedad Colombiana de Cirugía Plástica, Estética y Reconstructiva (SCCP). Membership requires completing an accredited surgical residency, passing written and practical board exams, and maintaining continuing medical education credits.

We verify active membership directly with the SCCP — not by asking the surgeon to self-report. Any surgeon who cannot confirm active, current certification is not considered.

We also check for international certifications where applicable, including FILACP (Latin American Federation of Plastic Surgery) and training records from programs in the US, Europe, or elsewhere.

Step 2: Surgical Volume and Specialty Focus

A board-certified surgeon who performs five rhinoplasties a year is a different proposition than one who performs a hundred.

We look at:

• Procedure volume — how many of each procedure the surgeon performs annually

• Specialty focus — do they concentrate their practice, or are they generalists?

• Years of active practice — both total experience and experience with specific techniques

We match patients to surgeons based on this specificity. If you're looking for a deep plane facelift specialist, we don't connect you with a surgeon whose primary work is breast augmentation — even if both are excellent.

Step 3: Peer Review and Reputation Within the Medical Community

Clinical reputation can't be faked among colleagues.

We conduct informal peer review through our network of Medellín medical contacts — asking how a surgeon is regarded by other specialists, hospital staff, and anesthesiologists who work alongside them. Complications management is a particularly telling indicator: how a surgeon handles a difficult outcome reveals far more about their character and competence than an uneventful case.

Surgeons who have not yet developed a strong peer reputation, regardless of their credentials, are not added to our network.

Step 4: Facility Accreditation Review

The surgeon is only one part of the equation. The operating facility matters just as much.

We verify that all procedures are performed in:

• Clinics or hospitals accredited by the Icontec (Colombia's national accreditation body) or internationally recognized equivalents

• Facilities with appropriate ICU-level backup for elective surgery

• Operating rooms with modern anesthesia equipment, sterile field protocols, and 24-hour nursing coverage

We do not allow procedures in unaccredited private suites or facilities that cannot provide emergency support.

Step 6: Ongoing Patient Feedback Loop

Once a surgeon is in our network, our job doesn't end.

Every Plastik Tour patient is followed through their recovery and asked for direct, candid feedback about their surgical experience — not just their result. We track:

• Communication quality before and after surgery

• Whether informed consent was properly obtained

• How complications (even minor ones) were handled

• Whether the patient felt respected and heard throughout

Surgeons who generate consistent negative feedback — even without a specific incident — are reviewed and, if necessary, removed from our network.\

What We Don't Do

We believe transparency works in both directions. Here's what you won't find in our process:

• We don't accept referral fees from surgeons. Surgeons don't pay to be in our network, and their presence doesn't financially benefit us.

• We don't recommend surgeons based on availability or price. Our recommendations are based on fit for the specific patient and procedure.

• We don't hide the complications history. If a surgeon has a known pattern we're aware of, we address it directly — not euphemistically.

You pay your surgeon directly. We never touch the clinical fees. This model removes the financial incentive to recommend someone who isn't the right fit.

Colombia's Medical Infrastructure Supports This Standard

It's worth noting that our vetting process is made easier by Colombia's underlying medical infrastructure.

Colombia ranks #22 in the WHO global health rankings — above the United States (#37) and Canada (#30). Medellín specifically has received 23,323 international medical tourists in 2024 and has seen 14% annual patient growth since 2010. The city has a mature medical ecosystem with internationally trained specialists, modern hospital groups, and a culture of medical excellence that has been decades in the making.

We didn't create that ecosystem. We navigate it carefully on your behalf.

Ready to Meet Your Surgeon?

Every surgeon in the Plastik Tour network has been verified, visited, and consistently reviewed. Fill your personalized estimation form or book a free discovery consultation.