Surgical specialty
Plastic Surgery (Integrated): Salary, Residency & Career Guide
Reconstructive and aesthetic surgery spanning trauma, cancer, congenital disease and elective procedures.
Typical Training
6 years
Six-year integrated plastic surgery pathway; independent routes also exist.
Attending Compensation
$625,757
Average Total Compensation
Employment outlook
Not isolated
Projected Job Growth
Relative Competitiveness Index
86 / 100
Very Competitive
Start in Medical School
M1 to M4 Preparation
Practical experience, projects and rotation planning.
See the Medical School RoadmapAttending Compensation and State Wages
U.S. Attending Compensation
$625,757
Average Total Compensation
BLS does not publish a separately matched state wage series for this specialty.
Resident Pay by Institution
Six-year integrated plastic surgery pathway; independent routes also exist..
2026–27 salaries, five published training-institution examples.
Selected institution
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
$77,049/ year
Pay varies by institution and postgraduate year.
Schedules and Work Setting
Schedule and Call
Aesthetic outpatient practices may be elective; reconstructive flap checks, hand trauma, microsurgery and burns create longer cases and unplanned coverage. Ask how often residents return overnight to monitor free flaps.
Practice Settings
Reconstructive operating rooms, burn and trauma services, outpatient procedural clinics.
Procedures and Clinical Work
- Microsurgical tissue transfer
- Hand reconstruction
- Breast reconstruction
- Facial and body reconstruction
Fellowship Training
Fellowship Expectation Index
2 / 5
Fellowship Options
Common Fellowship Duration: 1 year(s) beyond residency. Hand, craniofacial or microsurgery fellowships may follow integrated training.
Integrated plastic surgery residency covers the core reconstructive scope. Microsurgery, craniofacial and hand subspecialization may follow.
Direct Practice
Core reconstructive and aesthetic plastic surgery within one’s privileges and experience.
Specialized Practice
Complex congenital craniofacial or specialized hand practice may value dedicated fellowship training.
Choosing a Path
Ask about the actual reconstructive and aesthetic case mix available after integrated residency.
Potential Fellowship Pathways
- Craniofacial surgery
- Hand surgery
- Aesthetic surgery
- Microsurgery
Preparing in M1 Through M4
Reconstruction after cancer or trauma is a different daily practice from cosmetic surgery. Observe both to understand the breadth of plastic surgery.
Research or QI
A free-flap complication study, hand trauma review, wound healing investigation or breast reconstruction outcomes project is a grounded research starting point.
Common Mistake
Choosing the field from aesthetics alone and overlooking microsurgical call, burns, trauma and postoperative flap monitoring.
Preparation by Year
- 1Observe reconstructive surgery and postoperative flap checks, then compare an elective aesthetic clinic.
- 2Meet integrated plastic surgery residents and review the difference from independent pathways after other surgery training.
Ask a resident this: How much time do residents spend in reconstructive trauma, hand, breast, congenital and aesthetic surgery before graduation?
MD vs DO Match Outcomes
188 of 253 matched to their preferred specialty
U.S. DO Seniors: No comparable 2024 preferred-specialty cohort reported.
Applicant Considerations
The 2024 DO Charting Outcomes specialty table did not report a comparable separate plastic surgery row. The page should not invent a DO match percentage.
DO Application Strategy
Ask integrated programs directly about DO trainee history, visiting-student access and exam policies. A detailed surgical evaluation can help contextualize an application.
Job Outlook
N/A
Projected Employment Growth
2025 to 2035, BLS occupational projection
No distinct employment forecast is published for this exact specialty.
AI and the Specialty
Potential Workflow Changes
Preoperative simulation, surgical planning and image-based consultation may improve; technical reconstruction remains clinical.
Sources & Data Notes
Reviewed . National attending compensation uses Doximity's 2026 specialty survey (2025 pay) where available, then verified specialty-specific Medscape, Marit or Salary.com estimates. Doximity, Medscape and Marit report total compensation; Salary.com models base salary. Survey averages, modeled salaries and BLS wage medians measure different populations and must not be interpreted as identical metrics. BLS May 2025 state wages are shown separately and exclude self-employed physicians. The ophthalmology BLS category excludes pediatric ophthalmologists. State figures may be missing, top-coded, or suppressed. Job outlook uses BLS 2025–2035 occupational projections; it is not a local vacancy forecast. Resident stipend examples reflect published institutional scales for 2026 to 2027, by postgraduate year, not specialty. Stanford includes housing in its reported base salary; other institutions handle allowances differently.
The Relative Competitiveness Index uses a fixed score of 25 plus 1.75 times the 2024 U.S. MD preferred-specialty unmatched percentage, rounded, then applies the same 1.225 multiplier to every specialty. Neurological Surgery is 98/100; the score is not the applicant's chance of matching. It is not a 2026 estimate or DO-specific score. The MD and DO percentages compare different unadjusted applicant cohorts who ranked that specialty first. They do not account for application strategy, program selection, scores, or geography. Ophthalmology and urology have separate specialty match processes; other pathways may lack suitable NRMP cohorts.
The 1–5 Fellowship Expectation Index is an editorial assessment of customary career paths, not a measured participation rate or requirement. For residency profiles, compact training labels put specialty years before the clinical base or preliminary year; e.g. 3+1 means three specialty years and one clinical base year, even though the clinical year comes first. Fellowship-defined careers are presented in the separate fellowship explorer. Schedules, procedural scope, preparation suggestions, and potential AI effects depend on the program and practice setting; they are qualitative descriptions, not guaranteed outcomes or forecasts of physician replacement.
For Plastic Surgery (Integrated): Doximity 2026, Average Total Compensation, reported under “Plastic Surgery.” The national estimate must not be treated as a state-specific compensation figure.
Plastic Surgery (Integrated): Editorial estimate of how fellowship shapes a career path. No observed fellowship uptake percentage is implied. Specialty-specific roadmaps describe illustrative activities, not mandatory publication, shadowing-hour, rotation, or skill requirements. Common fellowship routes: Hand, craniofacial or microsurgery fellowships may follow integrated training.