Vanguard Dermatology and Skin Cancer Specialists, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80910, USA.
Dermatol Surg. 2011 Mar;37(3):295-300. doi: 10.1111/j.1524-4725.2011.01876.x. Epub 2011 Feb 25.
Dermatologists perform more cutaneous surgical procedures than any other medical specialists, including plastic surgeons, especially for treating skin cancers, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the public may not identify dermatologists as surgeons.
Our study was designed to assess the public's perception of expertise in surgery of the skin of three medical specialties: dermatology, plastic surgery, and general surgery. We also investigated whether the physician's specialty biases people when they assess the cosmetic appearance of a surgical scar.
We administered an institutional review board-approved survey to individuals at the Emory Student Center and the Emory Dermatology Clinic. Participants rated the perceived skills and training of the different medical specialties and scored the cosmetic appearance of 16 surgical scars created by a fellowship-trained Mohs surgeon labeled as the work of different specialists.
Results from 467 participants were overwhelmingly in favor of plastic surgeons (p<.001). The physician's specialty did not bias participants in assessing the cosmetic appearance of surgical scars.
The study population had greater confidence in the surgical skills of plastic surgeons than in those of dermatologists, although participants were objective in rating the cosmesis of surgical scars, regardless of the purported surgeon's specialty. Although dermatologic surgeons must continually refine our surgical expertise, we must also educate the public about the breadth and depth of our work. The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.
皮肤科医生比其他任何医学专家（包括整形外科医生）进行更多的皮肤外科手术，尤其是治疗皮肤癌，但传闻证据表明，公众可能不认为皮肤科医生是外科医生。
我们的研究旨在评估公众对三个医学专业的皮肤外科手术专业知识的看法：皮肤科、整形外科和普通外科。我们还研究了当人们评估外科疤痕的美容外观时，医生的专业是否会影响他们的判断。
我们向埃默里学生中心和埃默里皮肤科诊所的个人发放了一份经过机构审查委员会批准的调查。参与者对不同医学专业的技能和培训进行了评分，并对 16 个由 fellowship-trained Mohs 外科医生创建的外科疤痕的美容外观进行了评分，这些疤痕被标记为不同专家的作品。
来自 467 名参与者的结果压倒性地支持整形外科医生（p<.001）。医生的专业并没有影响参与者对手术疤痕美容外观的评估。
研究人群对整形外科医生的手术技能比皮肤科医生更有信心，尽管参与者在评估手术疤痕的美容效果时是客观的，而不管所谓的外科医生的专业是什么。尽管皮肤科外科医生必须不断提高我们的手术技能，但我们也必须向公众宣传我们工作的广度和深度。作者表示没有与商业支持者有重大利益关系。
