The 44th Annual Meeting of the Turkish Society of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery. The National Congress continues at a hotel in Antalya's Belek Tourism Center. Hundreds of plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgeons from Turkey and abroad are participating in the congress. At the General Assembly of the congress held yesterday, Prof. Dr. Cenk Demirdöver became the new president of the association.
President of the Turkish Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Association Prof.Dr. Cenk Demirdöver stated that the Medical Specialization Examination (TUS) is held twice a year and that one of the most preferred departments in this exam is plastic surgery. Stating that the total number of positions in plastic surgery in Turkey has changed around 60-70 so far, Demirdöver pointed out that a total of 443 positions were opened in the last two TUS. Emphasizing that this situation has caused an incredible increase in the number of assistants, Demirdöver said, "This will have very negative consequences. First of all, the amount of training that each assistant will receive will decrease both in quantity and quality. The excessively increased number of assistants will reduce the amount of training that assistants can receive from faculty members at a time when the academy is so weak." "We have received training from valuable teachers so far and we have brought plastic surgery to a respected point in the world. The gradual decrease in the quality of this education will take back the place we have achieved in the world. This is an important problem for us," he said.
"102 plastic surgeons will take the exam"
Stating that they organized the European Plastic Surgery Course simultaneously with the congress, Demirdöver said, "This course is organized for the first time in Turkey. The entire plastic surgeon curriculum is taught in the course, where valuable plastic surgeons, each an expert in their field, in Europe and surgeons with a high level of knowledge and experience in our country are lecturers. "The European Plastic Surgery Exam will be held at the end of the course. 102 plastic surgeons will participate in this exam. This will be the exam with the highest participation that we have ever organized as European Plastic Surgery. Our colleagues from many countries in Europe will participate in the exam," he said.
"Beware of aesthetics in installments"
Underlining that today, whether you look at written, visual or social media, you can definitely come across news about aesthetics, Demirdöver stated that this has caused aesthetics to become popular among the public. Pointing out that many people today feel that they are trying to have aesthetic surgery, Demirdöver said, “It is not possible for the intense demand to be met by highly competent and experienced people. This demand is being tried to be met, at least to some extent, by people who claim to have been trained with certificates issued in under-the-counter places, even though they are not competent. There are problems that come with this. Complications caused by aesthetic procedures performed by incompetent people can lead to irreversible negative consequences. People may even spend more money to fix this situation than the cheap amount they initially paid. Sometimes we see that aesthetics can be made attractive through installment transactions. Aesthetic procedures can be done more easily in installments, allowing people to reach prices they can pay more easily. The materials used consist of poor quality or illegal, unreal, overly diluted products. "They later realize that they paid much more than the attractive prices they paid," he said.
"Keeping knowledge and skills at a universal level"
Former president of the Turkish Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Association Prof. Dr. İbrahim Vargel said that they held the 44th National Congress with participants from Turkey and abroad. Stating that they continued the course organized for European Plastic Surgery assistants, Prof. Dr. Vargel said, "Both plastic surgery specialists and assistants from our country, as well as many scientists and plastic surgeons working abroad for educational purposes, attend our congress. Our association is a public benefit association and does not seek any profit. Our basic philosophy is to keep and improve the knowledge and skill levels of our experts at the current level and at a universal level."
"Problems are solved"
Stating that they have to contribute and take part in Turkey's health services, Vargel said, "There have been some negative developments recently and it is necessary to share them. The academy's loss of reputation and education, as well as surgical training and instructors' alienation from the public, emerged as a serious problem. Incompatible with this, increasing the number of assistants raises serious concerns about both plastic surgery training and the academic and medical performance of plastic surgeons. We shared our concerns with everyone. We are faced with difficulties with new regulations that will prevent practicing physicians from providing these services. "I hope common sense prevails and necessary steps are taken," he said.
"Social media usage rate is 97 percent"
Member of the Turkish Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Association, Prof. Dr. Zekeriya Tosun attended the 44th Annual Meeting of the Turkish Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery Association. He said that there was a large participation in the National Convention and that they also took the pulse of their colleagues with a survey. Stating that they analyzed the social media usage of nearly 500 colleagues who participated in the survey, Tosun said, "Most of our colleagues use social media. Nearly 80 percent of them stated that they use it both to inform their patients and to ensure that patients reach them. This once again shows the place of social media in human relations. The rate of social media usage was 97 percent. At today's point, social media attracts our attention as a must."
"Increase in the number of assistants"
Stating that they tried to test the future views of their young colleagues in the light of the latest developments in the survey, Tosun said, "We tried to understand that they are worried about the increase in the number of assistants. As a result of this survey, we saw that our young colleagues have very serious concerns. It is serious that they will not be able to practice at a sufficient level because they will receive insufficient training due to the increase in the number." "They are worried. In their future plans, most of them say that they will make changes in their life plans. Nearly 50 percent of them state that they will continue in private practice. There were serious concerns due to the increase in the number of assistants. This fact was revealed in the field scan," he said.