A highly qualified Specialist Plastic Surgeon is not at all the same as a cosmetic surgeon. Many people are surprised to learn that there is often a vast difference in skill and prerequisits between the two. After completing a medical degree, graduate doctors must undertake a further eight to twelve years of specialist surgical training and sit a series of rigorous exams in order to be invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). Only then do they gain recognition as a fully qualified Specialist Plastic Surgeon.