Does Surgeon Gender Matter for Aesthetic Patients

BACKGROUND Plastic surgery patients have expectations for an ideal practice to visit. However, patients' preferences in their plastic surgeon are still being described. OBJECTIVES This study investigates if elective cosmetic plastic surgery patients exhibit gender preference in their plastic surgeon for online inquiries at a private practice located in Houston, TX. The surgeons are a married couple, one female and one male, with identical training, age, and experience out of residency. METHODS A retrospective, single-practice review of all online inquiries for elective plastic surgery and nonsurgical injectable treatment from June 2019 to June 2020 was performed. Patients submitted an online inquiry for their procedure of interest and surgeon preference via the practice website. RESULTS The private practice had 873 online inquiries during the year-long study period. The majority of patients were female, 855 (97.9%), and 18 (2.1%) of those patients were male. 476 (55.7%) female patients prefer a female surgeon and 138 (16.1%) female patients prefer a male surgeon. 241 (28.2%) female patients made no surgeon preference. Regardless of surgeon preference, the majority of procedures inquired about were breast and body contouring. CONCLUSIONS This cohort of female patients prefers the female surgeon for breast procedures or multiple procedures involving breast, and the male surgeon for injectable procedures and facial procedures. There is no favor towards the male or female surgeon in body procedures. In conclusion, female plastic surgery patients may be influenced by surgeon gender in choosing their surgeon, depending on their surgery of interest.