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Background
Dr. Rivera
Carlos Rivera-Serrano, MD, is a US-trained plastic and reconstructive surgeon with additional advanced fellowship training in Asia and Europe. After completing two surgical residencies and two fellowships (super specializations), his extensive and advanced training makes him one of the most highly trained plastic surgeons in the United States.
Dr. Rivera-Serrano was born in Colombia. After living throughout the US during his training and practice experience, he has now found his new home in Miami. His interests include facial, breast, and body aesthetic surgery, with a focus on achieving natural results. Facial rejuvenation and body contouring are passions of his. Dr. Rivera-Serrano has particular expertise in body contouring due to his Colombian background and connection with South American plastic surgery societies and treatment philosophies, but with a more cosmopolitan twist towards natural results. He also has expertise in facial surgery due to his extensive training background in head & neck and craniofacial surgery. Additional interests include facial and body gender confirmation surgery and migraine relief surgery.
Throughout his career, Dr. Rivera-Serrano traveled the world to work at famed hospital institutions, picking up many awards and accolades along the way. A few of his other career highlights include graduating from medical school among the top three students in his class; during rotations at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Harvard University as a senior medical student, he was graded with Honors in five of seven clinical rotations. For four consecutive years during his residency at the University of Pittsburgh, he won the “Isamu Sando” Temporal Bone Dissection Contest, was a representative of the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery (AAOHNS), and received several AAOHNS Resident Leadership Awards. Dr. Rivera-Serrano has written more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and chapters in leading journals and books, as well as presented at more than 40 regional, national, and international meetings.
After completing more than ten years of residency and fellowship training, Dr. Rivera-Serrano has over eight years of independent plastic surgery experience with thousands of aesthetic and reconstructive procedures performed. His high quality and natural results speak for themselves.
Training & Experience
Dr. Rivera-Serrano completed two residencies followed by two super specialized fellowships, finishing in his postgraduate year 11 (PGY11) after finishing medical school. He trained in Plastic Surgery at the University of Florida and then completed fellowships in some of the most widely recognized and sought-after plastic surgery centers in the world. After finishing plastic surgery training, he completed a one-year clinical Craniofacial Surgery / Microsurgery Fellowship at the world-renowned Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan, where he was also the Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation Fellow.
He then did a clinical Microsurgery Fellowship at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, one of the premier plastic surgery programs in Europe, focusing on complex microvascular breast surgery. Given so, he is one of the few plastic surgeons in the country with fellowship training in Craniofacial Surgery and Microsurgery. Both in Taiwan and Belgium, he worked under global pioneers of plastic surgery, including the developers of several techniques of facial skeletal surgery and breast surgery. Moreover, prior to plastic surgery, Dr. Rivera-Serrano also completed a residency in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh, which was ranked as the second best program in the nation by US News & World Report the year of his graduation and is widely regarded as one of the top training programs for head & neck surgery and cranial base surgery in the world. This also makes him one of the few plastic surgeons in the country who also completed a residency in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. In contrast, most physicians/surgeons complete only one residency and sometimes one fellowship.
This extensive and unique training, diverse cultural and educational background makes Dr. Rivera-Serrano unarguably one of the most highly trained plastic surgeons in the country and the world. He is one of a handful of plastic surgeons who have had formal hands-on plastic surgery training in South America, North America, Asia, and Europe, and therefore has a very cosmopolitan plastic surgery and aesthetic vision.
Board-Certification
Dr. Rivera-Serrano is Double Board Certified by boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. More specifically, he is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. Board certification by a board recognized by the ABMS is a key item you should look for when searching for a plastic surgeon. Unfortunately, there are many doctors without plastic surgical training who advertise cosmetic surgery procedures to the public. Many “boards” are not members of the ABMS. Double, triple, or more “board certifications” may not really be synonymous with a quality-trained surgeon if the boards are not recognized by the ABMS and may even indicate the opposite. If doctors cut corners in their training, they may cut corners in your surgery or your medical treatment.