Considering a cosmetic surgery procedure? A recently published article on CNN.com offers a multitude of tips and guidelines that can help you achieve a safer surgery experience.

We organized them into 7 basic steps you can follow.

1. Ask about your surgeon’s experience, credentials and hospital privileges. A qualified surgeon should have no problem sharing his/her experience or credentials.

2. Ask about board certification. Find out what board has certified your surgeon and what standards must be met to receive that certification.

3. Find out if your surgeon has a prevention plan for complications such as DVT. Deep vein thrombosis is a possible plastic surgery complication. Your doctor should take steps to minimize the risk and be prepared to see early signs of its occurrence.

4. Research your procedure thoroughly, with reputable sources. Research will help you protect yourself and help you decide if elective cosmetic surgery is truly in line with your personal values. Don’t know where to look? We like to use the library, where you can access thousands of peer reviewed medical journals.

5. Find out if the facility is accredited or certified. If the surgery isn’t done in a hospital, your cosmetic surgeon is probably using an outpatient facility. Find out if that facility is considered safe by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.

6. Don’t seek out unapproved cosmetic procedures. If a doctor, surgeon or the FDA tells you to forgo a procedure, that’s advice you should definitely heed.

7. Don’t be careless or take the process lightly. When you walk into a plastic or cosmetic surgeon’s office, it won’t feel like a hospital, but it’s definitely not a spa.   Dr. Angelo Cuzalina gave the writers at CNN this gem of a quote: “Some people think of cosmetic surgery as not real surgery. They get the impression they’re going to a spa.  It’s still surgery. You get cut. You bleed.”