International Confederation of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgeons (IPRAS)

37,000 Plas­tic and Aes­thetic Sur­geons, 35,000 res­i­dents in train­ing, 30,000 Hand Sur­geons, 1,000 Micro Sur­geons and 1,000 Burn Spe­cial­ists from 99 nations are united in IPRAS – Inter­na­tional Con­fed­er­a­tion of Plas­tic, Recon­struc­tive and Aes­thetic Sur­geons.

Plas­tic, Recon­struc­tive and Aes­thetic Surgery is a young and inno­v­a­tive spe­cialty. Due to the rapid devel­op­ment of micro­surgery, we now have the chance to cure patients with large defects such as trans­plan­ta­tion of the limb and face. Train­ing in aes­thetic surgery is insep­a­ra­bly related to recon­struc­tive surgery. This is why many Euro­pean nations only allow plas­tic sur­geons to per­form aes­thetic surgery.

With great joy, we present the human­i­tar­ian work of IPRAS. The major­ity of our mem­bers are involved in char­i­ta­ble projects: they spend their vaca­tions doing vol­un­teer work in third world coun­tries. IPRAS has a new ini­tia­tive, Women for Women that aims to sup­ply help by female sur­geons to patients suf­fer­ing from dis­fig­ur­ing and socially exclud­ing sequalae of trauma that often occurs out of eth­nic or social tra­di­tions or typ­i­cal envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions that women in sev­eral coun­tries are sub­jected to.

Mem­ber­ship in an IPRAS-​recognized soci­ety means an oblig­a­tion to prac­tice our high eth­i­cal standards.

Education

The major edu­ca­tional effort of IPRAS/​IPRAF is the Qua­dren­nial Sci­en­tific Con­gress. This Con­gress pro­vides a venue for plas­tic sur­geons from around the world to bring the fruits of their inves­tiga­tive efforts to the crit­i­cal arena of their peers. Qua­dren­nial Sci­en­tific Con­gresses have been held in the major cen­ters of plas­tic surgery around the world with the next Con­gress sched­uled for Berlin, Ger­many in June 2007. Prospec­tive host coun­tries, under the aegis of an Orga­niz­ing Com­mit­tee, bid for the right to host the Con­gress at the cur­rent Con­gress and the Coun­cil of National Del­e­gates selects the winner.

Usu­ally, 800 to 1,000 abstracts are received. The vast major­ity are accepted to be read in either Ple­nary Ses­sions or in smaller, topic-​specific ses­sions. This struc­ture has allowed many of the younger plas­tic sur­geons to present their work and have it cri­tiqued by senior plas­tic sur­geons. Ple­nary Ses­sions include Pan­els that explore cur­rent research and tech­ni­cal advances in depth by lead­ers in the field.

How­ever, another edu­ca­tional effort is a pri­or­ity for IPRAS/​IPRAF. This effort is to bring plas­tic surgery edu­ca­tion to those sur­geons work­ing in emerg­ing coun­tries who may not have access to such edu­ca­tion oth­er­wise. Small groups of plas­tic sur­gi­cal edu­ca­tors visit var­i­ous coun­tries to pro­vide didac­tic edu­ca­tion and tech­ni­cal train­ing for these sur­geons and prospec­tive trainees. Cur­rent efforts are being orga­nized for Mol­dava and Cen­tral Africa.

Qual­ity Assurance

The basic dri­ving con­cept behind the estab­lish­ment of IPRAS was to ensure that plas­tic surgery qual­ity was estab­lished around the world. From its incep­tion, IPRAS has been con­cerned by the incur­sion of untrained physi­cians trav­el­ing around the world per­form­ing oper­a­tions for which they are not trained. With the advent of global inter­est in aes­thetic surgery, main­te­nance of stan­dards in plas­tic surgery is crit­i­cal. In many coun­tries, mem­ber­ship in IPRAS has been instru­men­tal in con­vinc­ing gov­ern­men­tal bod­ies that the mem­ber plas­tic surgery soci­ety should be the qual­i­fy­ing and cer­ti­fy­ing organization.

In the Euro­pean Union, for exam­ple, IPRAS has sup­ported and assisted the Euro­pean Com­mit­tee for Qual­ity Assur­ance and Med­ical Devices in Plas­tic Surgery (EQUAM) in the quest for ratio­nal inter­pre­ta­tion of sci­en­tific data dur­ing the debate over the safety of silicone-​gel breast implants. Hav­ing the expressed sup­port of an inter­na­tional plas­tic surgery orga­ni­za­tion was crit­i­cally impor­tant in the delib­er­a­tions of the var­i­ous gov­ern­men­tal groups, which made deci­sions about the avail­abil­ity of the implants. As a corol­lary, the Inter­na­tional Reg­istry of Breast Implants (IBIR) has been sup­ported by IPRAS in orga­ni­za­tional and finan­cial needs.

In con­clu­sion, the found­ing plas­tic sur­geons, who gave birth to IPRAS, were com­mit­ted to the prin­ci­ple that those who have should pro­vide for those who do not have. This prin­ci­ple con­tin­ues to guide all of the activ­i­ties of the lead­er­ship of IPRAS/​IPRAF.

Sec­tion A. National Associations

1. An offi­cial national asso­ci­a­tion of plas­tic sur­geons, rep­re­sent­ing the major­ity of plas­tic sur­geons, shall rep­re­sent that coun­try in IPRAS.
2. Each such asso­ci­a­tion shall con­sist of at least 5 members.
3. Appli­ca­tions for mem­ber­ship from national asso­ci­a­tions shall not be rejected on the basis of reli­gious beliefs or polit­i­cal ideals of the par­ent nation.
4. Αn Eng­lish ver­sion of Asso­ci­a­tions’ by-​laws

Sec­tion E. Pro­vi­sional Associations

1. National asso­ci­a­tions formed not less than prior to six weeks prior to the next meet­ing of the Coun­cil of National Del­e­gates may be rec­og­nized as a pro­vi­sional asso­ci­a­tion by action of the Exec­u­tive Committee.
2. Such pro­vi­sional asso­ci­a­tions shall be ele­vated to full mem­ber­ship at the next meet­ing of the Coun­cil of National Del­e­gates, pro­vid­ing all other require­ments of mem­ber­ship have been met.
3. Pro­vi­sional asso­ci­a­tions may appoint an observer to the Coun­cil of National Del­e­gates for rep­re­sen­ta­tion at its bien­nial meet­ing until national asso­ci­a­tion sta­tus has been con­firmed by the Coun­cil of National Delegates.