If you’re walking into the offices of London’s Dr. Alan Kingdon, you can be certain that you’re putting yourself in the care of a professional, qualified, and highly skilled cosmetic surgeon. Not only does he have a wall full of degrees to show he has invested years in learning his craft but he also has scores of satisfied customers who will happily testify to his deft abilities. This is just one office in a very large city that has many people practicing the same profession. So how does one choose when looking for a plastic surgeon? What skills go into making a great cosmetic practitioner?

Before you consider the skills, you start with your doctor’s education. Plastic surgery is a specialized field that requires four to five years of education that is heaped on top of an educational process that already takes over a decade. This academic gauntlet alone weeds out a lot of potential cosmetic surgeons. One could say that the first vital skill that is necessary to succeed as plastic surgeon is dogged determination. Once you have proven that you have the drive and desire, there are other, more tangible, skills that need to come into play before someone’s ready to start accepting patients.

A must for a cosmetic surgeon is fine motor skills. Plastic surgery is a game of millimeters, and a good plastic surgeon must be an effective painter on a tiny canvas. Many take up needlepoint or embroidery to help develop these skills. They must also have the eye of artist. The ability to create symmetry as well as beauty is at the very heart of what they do.

While the education allows someone to become cosmetic surgeon, it is the other skills that make one great. Michelangelo would have been a great plastic surgeon.