News ESAPS and EASAPS,People,Europe
ESAPS is the European Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery and was established in 2019 under the umbrella of EASAPS, the European Association of Societies of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery. Whilst EASAPS is a federation of societies, ESAPS is a society of individual plastic surgery members. Going forward, EASAPS will fall under ESAPS with ESAPS the dominant entity and EASAPS a subcommittee within ESAPS. The core founding principles and values remain the same. We continue to focus on patient safety, aesthetic education and training, plastic surgery regulation and other matters that affect our European membership.
Who are ESAPS?
Our 2024 – 2026 Board of Directors are Nora Nugent (UK) President, Pierfrancesco Cirillo (Italy) President-Elect, Ivar van Heijningen (Belgium) Treasurer, Mario Mendanha (Portugal) Secretary, Brigit Stark (Sweden) Immediate Past President, Anadi Begic (Norway), Iris Brito (Portugal), Timo Pakkanen (Finland), Carlos Parreira (Portugal), Armand Azancot (France), Stefan Handstein (Germany), Carlo Magliocca (Italy), Miguel Matias (Portugal). But ESAPS is also all of our dedicated committee members and you, the plastic surgeon members!
Community
ESAPS is a community of fully accredited European plastic surgeons. We share common interests, educational and practice needs and challenges. Whilst each European country has its unique training system, healthcare and regulatory set-ups, we also overlap in many ways. ESAPS is building a community where we can network, meet and share knowledge and experience with other like-minded European plastic surgeons. We encourage young plastic surgeons to join us and are always looking for plastic surgeons to become involved in our committees too.
Education
We value education in aesthetic plastic surgery immensely. As well as educational webinars, we hold a biennial aesthetic plastic surgery congress with smaller focused workshops in between. Our next biennial Congress will be in London 1st – 3rd October 2026 in collaboration with the BAAPS (British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons). Our next Workshop will be in Brussels 28th November 2025 and will focus on aesthetic breast surgery. This is the day before the RBSPS (Royal Belgian Society for Plastic Surgery) winter meeting. Save the dates! We would love to see you there.
Training
We are passionate about training plastic surgeons in aesthetic procedures. We have set up ABC (Advanced Body Contouring) Taskforce which ran the Workshop in Cervinia two years ago. We will also be launching our Aesthetic Breast Programme later in 2025. This is a one-year educational programme consisting of on-line modules combined with on-site visits to aesthetic breast surgery European experts.
Safety
Improving patient safety is a key value for ESAPS. In an aesthetic landscape where under and non-qualified practitioners perform aesthetic procedures and place patients at risk, we remain a consistent voice for safety and regulation in aesthetics. Our Patient Safety Committee have written a very comprehensive Patient Safety Handbook which is available complementary for every ESAPS member. This valuable resource has looked thoroughly at all aspects of safety in aesthetics. We also remain alert to new situations such as breast implant safety alerts and prepare responses to reflect concerns and collate the evidence available.
National Plastic Surgery Societies
We place high value and importance on our relationship with your plastic surgery national societies. They are the key leaders in aesthetic plastic surgery for your countries and very aware of national regulations and matters on a national level. National matters sometimes affect more than one country and a unified response and support from ESAPS and across Europe helps you as an individual country and society. We regularly hold meetings with our national Presidents for two-way communication and co-opt the Presidents on to our Board of Advisors. Plastic surgery societies hold membership of EASAPS.
Your Voice
If you are a fully accredited European Plastic Surgeon, we want you as part of ESAPS! Have your voice heard as part of our community and help us build the society that you want. Together we are stronger and our voice is louder! Reduced subscription rates are available if you are a member of your national plastic surgery society. Join us today! https://realplasticsurgeon.eu/joinesaps
