AceRockolla

There are many ways to a plastics residency.

Medical School-->Integrated Plastics Residency (Most competitive, shortest pathway)

Medical School-->General Surgery Residency-->Plastics Fellowship (Most common, traditional pathway)

Medical School-->Otolaryngology Residency-->Plastics Fellowship

Medical School-->Urology Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)

Medical School-->Neurosurgery Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)

Medical School-->Orthopedics Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)

Dental School-->Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency(6 yr)-->Plastics Fellowship (rare)

You don't need to be a plastic surgeon to do reconstructive craniofacial surgery. Oral surgeons and otolaryngologists regularly do those procedures.

Trauma/craniofacial surgeries don't bring in money, so these groups aren't fighting over these procedures. It also depends on the hospital on which surgeons get the craniofacial/trauma stuff, but most of the time it is shared.

This is from a craniofacial surgeon I know. He plans to go into private practice/elective surgery soon because hospital craniofacial/reconstructive surgery is a lot more work for a lot less money.