Free Board Certified Cosmetic Surgeon Practice Questions
10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
A patient seeking revision rhinoplasty has persistent obstruction after dorsal hump reduction. The middle third of the nose is narrowed, and the upper lateral cartilages lie close to the septum. The septum is straight, the turbinates are not enlarged after decongestion, and the alar rims remain stable during inspiration. Supporting the upper lateral cartilage away from the septum improves airflow. Which reconstruction most directly addresses the demonstrated defect?
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Correct answer: D - Spreader grafts between the septum and upper lateral cartilages
Question 2
Eight years after textured-implant breast augmentation, a woman develops progressive unilateral swelling over three weeks. She is afebrile, and the breast is neither warm nor erythematous. Ultrasound shows a sizable peri-implant fluid collection without a discrete mass. Before choosing an implant-revision operation, what is the most appropriate diagnostic step?
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Correct answer: A - Aspirate under ultrasound guidance for cytology, cell block, and CD30/ALK testing
Question 3
For a patient with Fitzpatrick type V skin and coarse black terminal hair, the clinician is selecting a laser for hair reduction. There is no recent tan or active skin disease. With appropriate settings and epidermal cooling, which platform generally offers the greatest safety margin against competing epidermal melanin absorption?
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Correct answer: B - Long-pulsed 1,064-nm Nd:YAG
Question 4
At the start of a scar revision, a healthy 60-kg adult receives 16 mL of 1% lidocaine with epinephrine from the surgeon and 8 mL of 0.5% lidocaine with epinephrine from the anesthetist. Before incision, the surgeon requests another 25 mL of 1% lidocaine with epinephrine. No other local anesthetic has been used. Applying the conventional labeled infiltration limits, which assessment of the planned cumulative dose is correct?
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Correct answer: B - 450 mg total; exceeds the 420-mg patient-specific ceiling
Question 5
After a 47-kg weight loss, a patient has maintained a stable weight for a year and has completed medical and nutritional optimization. Examination shows an abdominal apron together with marked side-to-side skin excess across the upper abdomen. Simulated downward redraping corrects the apron but leaves substantial transverse redundancy. Posterior truncal laxity is minor, and the patient accepts a vertical midline scar. The excision pattern that best matches this distribution is:
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Correct answer: A - Fleur-de-lis abdominoplasty
Question 6
Ten days after forehead botulinum toxin treatment, a patient reports heavier upper lids. Before treatment, she habitually elevated her brows to reduce hooding. Her brows are now lower, but MRD1 remains 4.5 mm bilaterally, as it was before treatment. Eye movements and closure are normal. Loss of activity in which muscle best explains the change?
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Correct answer: C - Frontalis
Question 7
At six-month follow-up after mastopexy, a patient's transformed BREAST-Q Satisfaction with Breasts score has risen from 35 to 75, while her Physical Well-Being score has fallen from 82 to 62. The corresponding preoperative and postoperative scales were scored correctly. How should these results be interpreted?
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Correct answer: C - She reports greater satisfaction with her breasts but poorer physical well-being
Question 8
Forty-five minutes after blepharoplasty, a patient develops rapidly increasing orbital pain, proptosis, and a tense orbit. Visual acuity has fallen from 20/20 to 20/200, a relative afferent pupillary defect is present, and intraocular pressure is 48 mm Hg. Ophthalmic help and emergency transport have been activated; a clinician trained in orbital decompression is at the bedside. What should happen now?
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Correct answer: D - Perform immediate lateral canthotomy with inferior cantholysis
Question 9
A frontal hair-restoration plan covers 48 cm². The area contains 10 stable follicular units/cm², and the planned total density is 35 follicular units/cm². Each harvested graft contains one follicular unit, averaging two terminal hairs. Before adding any allowance for graft loss, which harvest meets the additional density target?
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Correct answer: B - 1,200 follicular-unit grafts, approximately 2,400 hairs
Question 10
Two years after breast augmentation, the right breast has become firm, rounded, and visibly distorted even when the pectoralis is relaxed. It is not painful. Ultrasound shows neither a peri-implant collection nor rupture. Which Baker grade describes these findings?
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Correct answer: C - Grade III
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