Explant surgeons in Alberta

The Alberta market

Alberta has a well-developed private cosmetic sector for its population, with shorter waits than the larger Canadian metros. Calgary carries more of the private market; Edmonton has stronger academic medicine through the University of Alberta, which is worth considering for a complicated case.

Cities in Alberta

Verifying a surgeon in Alberta

Two separate checks, both public, both quick. Do them before the consultation rather than after.

• Licence and standing. Check with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, including any disciplinary history.
• Certification. In Canada the relevant body for this surgery is the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. A province licence means someone may practise medicine. It does not mean they are a certified plastic surgeon, and plenty of physicians performing cosmetic procedures hold the first without the second.

Alberta requires non-hospital surgical facilities to be accredited by the CPSA, and the College publishes the list. Ask which accredited facility your procedure would take place in and check it against that list.

Is removal covered in Alberta?

AHCIP does not fund cosmetic procedures, but may fund removal where medically necessary, typically rupture or significant capsular contracture. Removal for systemic symptoms alone is generally not funded.

Where a procedure is not funded the cost is yours. Our cost page covers what makes up the bill and what to insist on seeing in writing.

What to ask

• How many explant procedures with capsulectomy did you perform in the last year?
• Will you remove the entire capsule, and what will you do if it is adherent to my ribs or lung?
• Will the capsule be sent for pathology?
• What is your complication rate, and how do you track it?
• Which accredited facility would I be operated in?

The full question list and the warning signs worth walking away from are on our provider guidance page. On technique specifically, the en bloc page explains why the answer you want is about judgement rather than a promise, and capsulectomy versus capsulotomy covers the distinction most often blurred in consultation.