A specific curriculum in facial plastic surgery. Effect on residency training.

There has been a dramatic change in the degree of exposure to facial plastic surgery by the otolaryngology resident in the past decade. The amount of this exposure and the method of presentation of aesthetic concepts and procedures varies. We favor a specific curriculum in facial plastic surgery for the residency training program. The effect of this curriculum is measured by statistical analysis of resident-generated aesthetic surgery cases in one year following the introduction of this curriculum into the teaching program. These data are compared with the same period one year prior to the initiation of the program. Tympanoplasty, mastoidectomy, and tonsillectomy case numbers served as controls for statistical comparison over the same time period. These data serve as a guide to residency programs in determining the most effective means of providing optimum facial plastic surgery exposure to their trainees.