When you’ve built a successful plastic surgery practice, the idea of selling it isn’t just a financial decision—it’s a personal one. You’ve earned your reputation one patient at a time, scaled something that’s bigger than yourself, and now you’re staring down a future that requires just as much strategy as it took to get here.

The question is: who’s the right buyer?

Today’s plastic surgery market offers more options than ever before—from private equity-backed MSOs to regional groups and individual surgeons. Each comes with its own deal dynamics, valuation logic, and long-term implications for your career, your team, and your legacy.

Whether you’re just starting to explore your options or already fielding inquiries, understanding the buyer landscape is key to maximizing your outcome and protecting what you’ve built.

1. Private Equity-Backed MSOs: What Are They Looking For?

Private equity in plastic surgery is no longer a trend—it’s the new normal. Backed by institutional capital, MSOs (Management Services Organizations) are actively acquiring or affiliating with high-performing plastic surgery practices across the country. These buyers are typically:

• Looking to scale through acquisition
• Focused on platform or add-on opportunities
• Equipped to offer cash + equity deal structures
• Attracted to EBITDA-positive, multi-location, or growth-stage practices

If your practice has $1M+ in EBITDA, has an established team with multiple providers, strong margins, and a scalable brand, you are a strong candidate for an MSO deal.

2. Private Equity Platform: It’s About EBITDA & The Team, Not Just Revenue

Private equity firms aren’t just chasing topline revenue—they’re looking at EBITDA, and more importantly, what that EBITDA could become.

Whether a group sees your practice as a platform or an add-on to an existing MSO depends largely on your current earnings, your infrastructure, and your future growth potential.

Deal Type	What It Means	Ideal Practice Profile
Platform	First major acquisition in a specialty or region to build around	$2M+ in EBITDA, scalable ops, leadership in place
MSO Add-On	Bolt-on to existing platform for geographic or clinical expansion	$1M+ in EBITDA, strong margins, solid culture fit, multiple providers

If your practice is generating $2M or more in EBITDA, you’re in a strong position to attract interest from both platform-seeking private equity groups and strategic add-on buyers, each bringing different valuation models, deal structures, and growth opportunities to the table.

Unless you’re taking a nuanced approach to calculating normalized EBITDA, you may be misrepresenting or undervaluing your true market potential. Partnering with an experienced sell-side advisor like TUSK ensures you understand your practice’s valuation through the lens buyers use, while uncovering the full range of options available in today’s competitive plastic surgery M&A landscape.

3. Physician-to-Physician Sales: A Slower Path, With Different Trade-Offs

While doctor-to-doctor sales still happen in plastic surgery, they’re increasingly rare, especially for premium practices.

That’s because:

• Fewer individual surgeons have the capital to pay full value upfront
• Most are seeking employment, not ownership
• The buyer pool is limited to your local market or referral base

In these sales, you may face:

• Lower valuations focused on a percent of collections
• More risk with seller financing or earnouts
• A slower and less competitive process

Not every plastic surgery practice will attract a private equity or MSO buyer due to factors beyond valuation. That said, for smaller, lifestyle practices with a singular surgeon or surgeons seeking a more personal legacy transfer, a physician buyer is still a viable path.