Surgery
Plastic surgery expert witnesses
Listed plastic surgery expert witnesses address reconstruction after injury, disease or previous surgery, and the assessment of scarring. Scar evidence forms a large part of the personal injury work.
01
The evidence
What a plastic surgery expert witness is asked to determine
Plastic surgical evidence often has to describe an appearance rather than a function. A scar report needs measurement, siting, colour and the effect on the individual, and it needs to distinguish what will improve with time from what will not without further surgery.
- Whether the reconstruction chosen was appropriate to the defect and the tissue available.
- Whether flap or graft failure was avoidable and whether it was managed promptly.
- What the scar measurements, siting and appearance support about severity.
- How far scarring will improve with time, and what further surgery could achieve.
- Whether the psychological effect of appearance requires separate evidence.
Practitioners are listed across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Location can be narrowed in the register’s location listings before an instruction is made.
Claim contexts
Claims that instruct this discipline
These links describe the question plastic surgery evidence can answer. They do not prescribe the scope of an individual instruction.
Personal injury claims
Scarring and disfigurement after injury and its treatment.
View claim type → 02Criminal injuries compensation
Scarring evidence for compensation purposes.
View claim type → 03Clinical negligence claims
Reconstruction, technique and outcome in plastic surgery.
View claim type →Search the register by the discipline used in the instruction.
See plastic surgery listingsReport routes
Reports prepared
A condition and prognosis report is the usual route for scar evidence, following an independent medical examination.
Where treatment is criticised, a breach and causation report addresses the technique and the outcome. The report pages set out what each contains.
Plastic surgery expert witness evidence
A plastic surgeon expert witness measures and describes rather than characterises, so that the tribunal can assess severity from the evidence itself.
Discipline and coverage are shown in the listing, and terms are agreed directly. See guidance from British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons alongside the case material.
Directory search
Plastic Surgery listings
Plastic Surgery Expert Witness Cases & Claims
Related expert witness specialties
Questions answered
Frequently asked questions
Will a Plastic Surgery expert witness respond to Part 35 questions?
Yes - CPR 35.6 entitles the parties to put written questions on a report, and answering them is part of the expert's duty to the court. A Plastic Surgery report prepared for proceedings in England and Wales carries the Part 35 statement of truth, with equivalent duties applying in the other UK jurisdictions.
Can a Plastic Surgery expert act as a single joint expert?
Where the court directs a single joint expert under CPR 35.7, the instruction is agreed between the parties and put jointly - a routine basis of instruction in this field. Whether a particular practitioner accepts SJE appointments is confirmed with the practitioner at the enquiry stage.
Will the expert attend joint discussions or give evidence at trial?
Where the court directs discussions between experts under CPR 35.12, they meet and produce a joint statement of what is agreed and what is disputed; attendance at trial - in person or by video link - is likewise a matter of court direction. These commitments are confirmed with the practitioner at instruction.
Can I choose a Plastic Surgery expert of a specific gender, or one who assesses remotely?
Yes on both counts. Every listing displays the practitioner's gender, consulting locations and assessment types - face to face, remote or both - so sensitive-instruction preferences can be applied at the shortlisting stage, before any contact is made.