In search of evidence-based plastic surgery: the problems faced by the specialty

Recently, there has been significant interest both from government and medical practitioners in the discipline of evidence-based medicine. In this article we discuss the problems faced by the plastic surgeon when trying to ensure that practice is evidence-based and highlight some of the reasons behind these difficulties. With the rapid growth of the Internet we also outline its use to access high quality information for the plastic surgeon. (C) 2000 The British Association of Plastic Surgeons.