Plastic Surgery Oral Board Practice Cases by Clinical Domain
A comprehensive practice map that covers the breadth of plastic surgery while repeatedly testing selection, operative judgment, early rescue, late revision, and professionalism.
Key takeaways
- Use domains to prevent blind spots, but practice mixed sessions so the diagnosis and topic are not predictable.
- Every domain should include selection, operation, early complication, late complication, ethics, and a backup plan.
- These SurgiTest practice domains are an educational architecture, not an official ABPS blueprint or list of secure questions.
- Personal cases are a separate domain because exact record ownership cannot be replaced by generic scenarios.
Eight-domain practice map
| Domain | Representative original practice themes |
|---|---|
| Skin & Soft Tissue | Oncologic defects, wound coverage, pressure injury, hidradenitis, scar, local tissue rearrangement, grafting, and complication rescue. |
| Craniofacial & Head and Neck | Trauma, congenital differences, facial nerve, orthognathic principles, oncologic reconstruction, airway, and staged restoration. |
| Breast | Reconstruction, reduction, mastopexy, augmentation, revision, implant complications, symmetry, surveillance, and patient goals. |
| Hand & Upper Extremity | Trauma, tendon and nerve, fracture and soft-tissue coverage, infection, compression neuropathy, replantation, and functional recovery. |
| Microsurgery & Flaps | Recipient-site analysis, flap choice, perforator anatomy, anastomosis strategy, monitoring, take-back decisions, and donor-site morbidity. |
| Cosmetic / Aesthetic | Patient selection, expectations, facial and body procedures, implants, revision, office safety, informed consent, and ethical marketing. |
| Burns & Thermal Injury | Resuscitation, inhalation injury, escharotomy, excision and coverage, hand and facial burns, reconstruction, and long-term function. |
| Personal Case Defense | Your actual evaluation, consent, operative judgment, photographs, complications, outcome, ethics, and reflection—fully de-identified. |
Skin, soft tissue, wound, and oncologic reconstruction
Defect analysis
Depth, contamination, exposed structure, oncologic margin, radiation, vascularity, and timing of definitive coverage.
Reconstructive choice
Secondary healing, graft, local rearrangement, regional flap, free tissue, dermal substitute, staged reconstruction, and donor-site tradeoff.
Failure branches
Infection, dehiscence, graft loss, partial flap loss, exposed hardware, pressure recurrence, and need for repeat debridement.
Craniofacial and head-and-neck reconstruction
Trauma and skeletal relationships
Airway, ocular function, occlusion, facial buttresses, soft tissue, timing, fixation, and secondary deformity.
Congenital and pediatric care
Growth, speech, feeding, airway, psychosocial development, staged repair, family counseling, and multidisciplinary coordination.
Head-and-neck defects
Margin status, mucosal lining, skin, bone, oral competence, speech, swallowing, airway, recipient vessels, radiation, fistula, and salvage.
Breast reconstruction and aesthetic breast surgery
Reconstruction
Immediate versus delayed timing, implant versus autologous choice, radiation, mastectomy skin, donor sites, surveillance, symmetry, and staged refinement.
Aesthetic breast
Patient goals, ptosis, volume, skin quality, implant choice, scars, sensation, breastfeeding, asymmetry, and revision expectations.
Complications
Hematoma, infection, skin or nipple compromise, implant exposure, capsular contracture, animation, fat necrosis, flap failure, and patient dissatisfaction.
Hand and upper-extremity function
Acute trauma
Perfusion, contamination, fracture stability, tendon, nerve, soft tissue, replantation candidacy, sequencing, and postoperative therapy.
Compression and chronic disease
Localization, electrodiagnostics when relevant, nonoperative care, decompression, tendon balance, arthritis, and patient expectations.
Functional outcome
Sensation, opposition, motion, tendon glide, stability, pain, splinting, therapy, return to work, and secondary reconstruction.
Microsurgery, regional flaps, and complex reconstruction
Choice and design
Required tissue components, pedicle, perforators, reach, orientation, donor morbidity, recipient bed, and fallback options.
Execution
Exposure, vessel preparation, flap elevation, anastomosis, perfusion assessment, inset, dead space, and donor closure.
Monitoring and salvage
Clinical signal, adjunct monitoring, venous versus arterial compromise, take-back threshold, exploration, thrombus management, and secondary coverage.
Aesthetic surgery and the business of safe care
Selection and expectation
Motivation, realistic goals, comorbidity, nicotine, body-image concern, prior operations, revision burden, and reasons to decline.
Procedure planning
Facial analysis, body contour, scars, asymmetry, anesthesia, facility, combined-procedure risk, postoperative support, and staged strategy.
Ethics and professionalism
Advertising, photography, consent, financial pressure, coding, conflicts, postoperative access, dissatisfaction, and continuity after complications.
Burns and thermal injury
Acute stabilization
Airway, inhalation injury, resuscitation, temperature, circumferential restriction, escharotomy, associated trauma, and transfer.
Excision and coverage
Depth, timing, donor availability, grafting, dermal substitutes, hand and face priorities, infection, and repeated operations.
Reconstruction
Scar, contracture, eyelid and oral competence, neck motion, hand function, growth, psychosocial care, and staged release or tissue replacement.
Turn the domains into examiner-style sessions
- 01
Randomize the domain
Do not announce the topic. Recognition and framing are part of the skill.
- 02
Force one initial plan
Require the candidate to choose and justify rather than listing the reconstructive ladder or every possible operation.
- 03
Introduce an early complication
Test the first sign, immediate action, need for return to the operating room, and salvage.
- 04
Introduce a late complication or dissatisfaction
Test maturation, workup, revision timing, expectations, function, and communication.
- 05
Add an ethics or resource constraint
Change consent, advertising, facility capability, patient pressure, coding, follow-up access, or team conflict.
Put the framework under pressure
Practice the answer out loud—not only on paper.
Voice-first cases, adaptive examiner follow-up, imaging, complications, and structured educational feedback for plastic surgery.
Questions candidates ask
Frequently asked questions
Are these the official ABPS content categories?
No. They are SurgiTest educational domains built from the breadth of plastic surgery and the public examination competencies. They are not an official blueprint or secure topic list.
Should I practice only my weakest domain?
Use targeted repair for weakness, but retain mixed practice. The oral examination requires rapid transitions and consistent judgment across unfamiliar topics.
How should personal cases fit into domain practice?
Rehearse personal cases as their own randomized set and also tag each case by clinical domain, complication, ethics issue, and operation so gaps are visible.
Source transparency
Official references
Board requirements, dates, and candidate instructions can change. Confirm current details directly with ABPS and the Board’s candidate portal.
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