Top Doc / Top Plastic Surgeon
Like many of his colleagues, Dr. Nachbar is among those listed on the
Top Doc / Top Plastic Surgeon lists appearing
in a number of publications. For example, the Consumers' Research Council of America, which has
trademarked the name "Top Plastic Surgeons", has him listed, as you can check for
yourself
in the
Guide to America's Top Plastic Surgeons. Scroll down to the
Top Plastic Surgeon
Search Engine link
to enter his name and the state of Arizona and see for yourself.
Of course, as any such publication will tell you, you should never solely rely on
such a listing,
and should still do your homework, as explained at Picking
A Plastic Surgeon. There
you will find techniques and tools for checking out a prospective doctor
of any specialty, including
a link to the Arizona Medical Board.
You will also want to check whether your doctor is board certified, and by which
board. We have
included a
link to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), which can tell you which ABMS board (if any) has
certified your doctor.
We recently found an error on the Arizona Osteopathic Board website, where the
Arizona State website claimed that a doctor was certified by an ABMS board, even though we knew
that he was not. We called them, and they
told us that 1) they knew the Arizona State website was providing
incorrect information,
that it was a very
complicated problem, they did not know how to fix it or when it would be fixed, and
they really were not too concerned
that the Arizona State website was wrong because 2) they don't verify the
self-reported board certifications anyway, so members of the public should not be relying on
the Arizona State website for board certification information.
So you clearly need to check
board certification for yourself, since your Arizona State government does not.
Fortunately, it is very easy to
check ABMS board certification,
using the links here
While Dr. Nachbar is proud to be listed as a "Top Plastic Surgeon", he cautions you not to
put too much faith in
those listings. For example, as an established expert in the community,
he is often asked
to review problem cases from other plastic surgeons. In one case, he saw a lovely little
old lady whose face was terribly burned by another Phoenix, Arizona area plastic surgeon
(who is, fortunately,
no longer in practice)
who obviously did not know how to properly adjust the laser for that patient's
fragile skin. Since Dr. Nachbar had only seen her badly burned face, it broke his heart when he saw what
she had looked like before surgery.
You can imagine how Dr. Nachbar was horrified to see that same plastic surgeon
subsequently named one of Phoenix Magazine's "Top Docs",
in spite of the settled malpractice case.
Magazine listings relate more to the church groups and country clubs that a doctor belongs
to than anything related to actual surgical ability. Indeed, Phoenix Magazine itself only
claims to check "the state's
medical board to determine if the doctor has been convicted of (sic) or has settled in a
malpractice lawsuit," a check you can (and should) do for yourself from
this link.
The bottom line: don't rely on anyone else's research -- do your own!