The American Board of Plastic Surgery is one of only 24 accredited specialty boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.  The prestige associated with recognition from the American Board of Medical specialties exists for two primary reasons:

The American Board of Medical Specialties is expressly designed to provide public protection through quality control in medical education; and only through recognition by the American Board of Medical specialties can a specialty board gain full access to resources of the entire spectrum of graduate medical education.  There are some organizations that have similar sounding names that may be misleading.  These organizations are not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and may not have even remotely selective or demanding standards.

The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the ONLY BOARD WHICH CERTIFIES THE FULL SPECTRUM OF THE ENTIRE SPECIALITY OF PLASTIC SURGERY.