Plastic and aesthetic surgery among medical students: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: The wide variety of operations that a plastic surgeon can deal with creates confusion regarding its proper scope. This confusion was observed in primary physicians as well as medical students. Increasing the perception of medical students toward plastic surgery can aid in career decision-making and early referral patterns. The aim of this study is to gauge a holistic overview of how medical students and interns perceive the plastic and aesthetic surgical specialty in King Faisal University and to suggest a recommended plan. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed equally to male and female medical students and interns in a local medical institute. The questionnaire constituted three sections; the first included the biographical data. The second is concerned with the different case scenarios and specialties to be chosen. The third is concerned with the previous clinical exposures. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 21. Between comparison, chi-square tests, Mann–Whitney U-test, and Kruskal–Wallis tests were applied. Normality tests were conducted using the Shapiro–Wilk’s test. Results: Two hundred ninety-two students and interns have participated and completed the questionnaire. There were 189 males and 103 females. Plastic surgery was most commonly chosen in the following case scenarios; burn of the hand (74%), broken nose (64.7%), and cosmetic nose reshaping (80.8%). However, plastic surgery was infrequently chosen (selected by