After a serious accident, the injured patient must undergo a complex microsurgical reconstruction, a precise procedure. Another consults for a facelift as a form of facial rejuvenation. Another comes for a prosthesis after a mastectomy related to breast cancer. So many cases that Dr. Jean-Sébastien Barbier will follow in one day. The 27-year-old intern highlights the diversity of his daily life at the Paris Saint-Louis Hospital in the Department of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery: “There are many myths surrounding this discipline, which is often reduced to an aesthetic aspect in order to celebrate its excesses, when it is much more. »
He only became interested in plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery at the end of his third year of medicine while in Korea as part of an exchange program that allowed him to study health systems in different countries around the world: Koreans have a different take on body modification and the country has become one of the plastic surgery capitals of the world., he specifies. Returning to Paris, he decided to make this his career. His father, a general practitioner, and mother, a dentist, are surprised: “For them, a great surgeon is more of a heart or a digestive surgeon. »
While he was a young extern, Jean-Sébastien Barbier worked eighty to one hundred hours a week to prepare for the national ranking tests that determine the choice of assignment sector and university hospital center (CHU): “In Paris, there were only seven places in plastic surgery, for 9,000 candidates. » He won the holy grail—an internship in plastic surgery at Saint-Louis Hospital—and his parents’ approval.
“Some form of prestige”
“Plastic surgery is one of the most difficult specialties. This makes it even more attractive: access to this specialty also means a certain form of prestige.Alexander Kitich, 26, an intern and founder of the National Association of Young Visual Artists, summarizes. The discipline was among the most in-demand specialties for interns in 2017, according to data from the National Council of Hospital Practitioner Management, contacted the world.
It is even at the top in 2021 and 2022, respectively Doctor’s Daily. The madness is confirmed in 2023: Plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery is the most popular specialty in proportion to open positions, with 82% of plastic surgery positions filled on the first day of national procedure selection.
Source: Le Monde
I am Joe Dow, a professional content creator and news journalist for Run Down Bulletin. I specialize in covering technological trends and advancements, with an emphasis on their real-world implications. My work has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, Wired Magazine, and The Verge.
