Every once in awhile, someone will look at a body part on themselves and decide they want to change it up. It might be your breasts, or your stomach, or you might even want a face lift. This means you’ll be looking for a plastic surgeon of some type.

In many communities, plastic surgeons are a dime a dozen, which means it’s hard to keep track of who’s good and who’s not. Price isn’t always an indicator of who is or isn’t competent; many entertainment professionals have paid good money to the wrong plastic surgeon and come out of it with less than positive results.

So, what should you be looking for in a plastic surgeon? Here are some tips on getting it right.

1. Ask your own doctor if they know anything about the plastic surgeon, or can recommend one for you. All doctors don’t know each other, but they all have to be licensed, and if a doctor does any significant amount in a community other doctors will know about them.

2. Research them online to see if there are any complaints about them. If you find complaints, make sure to read them to see what type of complaints they are. Some people ask for certain things that can’t be delivered, though a surgeon might try. Others have actually been hurt or disfigured by bad plastic surgeons. If a doctor isn’t good, you’ll easy find a lot about them online.

3. If you make an appointment with a plastic surgeon, ask them to supply some names of people you can talk to for references. Reputable plastic surgeons will give you some names of people you can talk to. They will also usually have a book of before and after pictures of work they’ve done, but these could be forged or proof of someone else’s work. If you get some names and phone numbers, do some diligence and talk to at least 2 or 3 of them.

4. Verify the credentials of your plastic surgeon by calling the American Board of Plastic Surgery. Every plastic surgeon has to register with this group, so by calling you can verify that your plastic surgeon is legitimate.

5. Ask specific questions about the particular plastic surgery you’re looking to have. These questions don’t only consist of what you want to look like. You want to find out what types of medications they may use on you. You’ll want to ask what the actual procedure is like. You want to know which hospitals your plastic surgeon is allowed admitting privileges to in case something goes wrong. Your physician should always be able to answer these questions, and this is all information you can check out later on.

6. Fees are always the last thing to ask questions about, but sometimes you can find out the range of the fees online.

7. This is the most important tip of all; if you don’t feel comfortable with your choice, don’t go through with your procedure. Sometimes you’re really not ready for plastic surgery, and a competent plastic surgeon won’t push you into it. Many time plastic surgeons won’t even operate on you until you’ve given thought for at least 30 days as to whether you want to go through with it or not. Even plastic surgery is dangerous because someone is cutting into your body, so don’t go into it without the knowledge of what could potentially happen. There are far too many horror stories of people who have been disfigured, or even died on the operating table, for things both very invasive and things minor such as liposuction and botox injections.

Getting plastic surgery is a very big step, no matter if your reason is medical or cosmetic. Take the time to do your research and get it right; it could mean long term success or pain for your body.