How to Verify a Cosmetic Surgeon in Colombia

1. Confirm registration in ReTHUS

ReTHUS — the Registro Unico Nacional del Talento Humano en Salud — is Colombia's national registry of health professionals. It is the authoritative record of who is legally authorised to practise, and it is the single most important check on this page. Search the practitioner by name or identification number and confirm the entry exists and is current.

Run the search yourself. A screenshot forwarded by a clinic co-ordinator is not verification; it is a picture of a screen.

2. Separate the licence from the specialty

Registration confirms someone is a licensed physician. It does not by itself confirm they completed a plastic surgery residency. This distinction is where most avoidable problems begin, because a general practitioner performing cosmetic procedures may be entirely legal and entirely wrong for your operation.

Ask where and when the specialty training was completed, and whether the surgeon holds membership in the Sociedad Colombiana de Cirugia Plastica, the national professional society. Society membership is not a legal requirement and its absence is not disqualifying on its own — but combined with vagueness about training, it is a pattern worth taking seriously.

3. Establish where the operation happens

Ask for the name and address of the facility where you will actually be operated on, and confirm it is equipped for the level of anaesthesia your procedure requires. A consultation in a polished office in El Poblado tells you nothing about the operating theatre, which may be somewhere else entirely.

On international accreditation

International hospital accreditation applies at the hospital level. Standalone clinics, day-surgery centres, and individual practices do not carry it, and a marketing page that implies otherwise has told you something about how carefully that practice handles claims. If a hospital is involved in your care, verify its accreditation directly with the accrediting body rather than taking a logo on a website at face value.

4. Get the terms in writing before you pay

Before any deposit changes hands, you should have in writing: the exact procedure and technique proposed, the total price and what it includes, the facility name, the number of follow-up visits covered, the policy on revision surgery and who bears the cost, and what happens to your deposit if you need to cancel or postpone.

Be wary of pressure on timing. Deposit deadlines tied to a discount are a sales technique, not a medical one.
Be wary of consultations conducted only through a co-ordinator. You should speak with the operating surgeon before you commit, even if only by video.
Be wary of before-and-after galleries as evidence. They are marketing assets, frequently unattributed, and prove nothing about who performed the work.
Be wary of a quote well below the typical band. Something has been removed from it, and you want to know what before you find out during recovery.

Where this site stands

We do not perform surgery, employ surgeons, or operate a clinic. We publish typical ranges and verification guidance, and where it is useful we will point you toward practices — but we will not tell you a specific surgeon is the right one for your case, because that is a judgement only you and a qualified physician can make with your actual medical history in front of you.

How to verify a surgeon in Colombia