Dr. Michelle Hardaway, M.D., F.A.C.S., was running one of the most demanding surgical departments in the state of Michigan before she ever opened a private practice. As the former Chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Detroit Receiving Hospital — a Level I Trauma Center, the highest designation in emergency care — she spent years operating in conditions that most cosmetic surgeons never encounter: complex reconstructive cases, trauma-related injuries, and patients whose outcomes depended entirely on surgical precision under pressure. That background is not incidental to what she does today at her Farmington Hills surgical center. It is the foundation of it Aesthetic Plastic Surgery & Laser Center brings together thirty years of surgical excellence, board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and a Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons — credentials that place Dr. Hardaway among a small group of plastic surgeons in Michigan whose training extends well beyond elective cosmetic work into the full scope of what the specialty demands.
She also holds an appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine, maintains active hospital privileges at Corewell Health (Beaumont), Providence Hospital through Henry Ford Health, and the Detroit Medical Center Hospitals — and operates out of a QUAD A Accredited surgical center, a designation that requires the same safety and quality standards as a hospital operating room. For patients choosing where to have surgery, that accreditation is not a minor footnote. It is a meaningful guarantee about what happens if something unexpected occurs.
The Expert Answer: What Choosing a Plastic Surgeon Actually Means
"Choosing a plastic surgeon is personal," Dr. Hardaway says, and she means it in a way that goes beyond the standard reassurance. The decision involves trusting someone with your body, your appearance, and your recovery — and in a market where the term "board certified" is used loosely and the range of training behind any given surgeon's credentials can vary enormously, the specifics of a surgeon's background matter more than most patients realize when they begin their search.
Dr. Hardaway is direct about what she believes patients should be looking for. Board certification by the American Board of Plastic Surgery — not a related specialty board, not a self-designated certification — requires completion of an accredited plastic surgery residency and passage of rigorous written and oral examinations. Her Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons adds another layer of peer-reviewed credentialing. "These aren't honorary titles," she says. "They represent a standard of training and a commitment to ongoing accountability that protects patients."
Her approach to consultations reflects the same philosophy. Every initial appointment includes a detailed review of the patient's medical history, a physical examination, and a clear explanation of procedure options, safety considerations, recovery timelines, and realistic outcomes. Visual aids are part of the process — not as a sales tool, but as a communication tool. "I want patients to understand exactly what we're doing and why," she explains. "An informed patient makes better decisions, has more realistic expectations, and recovers with less anxiety. That's better for everyone."
Facial procedures are an area where Dr. Hardaway's philosophy is particularly deliberate. Facelifts, brow lifts, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, neck lifts, and facial fat grafting are all part of her practice, and her stated approach to each is to respect the patient's natural appearance while addressing their specific concerns. "The goal is never to make someone look like they've had surgery," she says. "It's to make them look like themselves — rested, refreshed, the way they feel on the inside." That restraint is a clinical skill, not just an aesthetic preference. It requires understanding facial anatomy at a level that only comes from years of reconstructive work alongside cosmetic practice.
Body contouring — including liposuction, tummy tucks, mommy makeovers, Brazilian butt lifts, body lifts, and panniculectomy — represents another significant pillar of the practice. Breast surgery, including augmentation, augmentation with lift, and reduction, rounds out the surgical offering. For patients who are not ready for surgery or who want to complement surgical results with ongoing maintenance, the practice also offers a full range of minimally invasive treatments: microneedling with PRP, dermal fillers, chemical peels, radiofrequency skin tightening, laser treatments, and injectable neurotoxins. These are not afterthoughts — they are part of a coherent approach to long-term aesthetic care that Dr. Hardaway oversees directly.
What This Means for Patients in the Farmington Hills Area
The Detroit metro is not short on plastic surgeons. But the concentration of credentials, institutional leadership experience, and facility accreditation that Dr. Hardaway brings to her Farmington Hills practice is genuinely uncommon — even in a major metropolitan market. Patients who have spent time researching their options often arrive at her door having already encountered the difference between a surgeon whose training is primarily cosmetic and one whose background spans the full reconstructive spectrum.
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"When you've spent years doing reconstructive work — trauma cases, cancer reconstruction, complex wound management — your understanding of tissue, healing, and anatomy is different," Dr. Hardaway explains. "That depth shows up in cosmetic work in ways that are hard to quantify but easy to see in outcomes." Her active hospital privileges at three major health systems in the region are a practical extension of that depth: they mean she is not operating in an isolated private setting disconnected from the broader medical community, but as an active participant in the institutional fabric of Michigan medicine.
The practice's all-female staff is something patients frequently mention in their reviews — not as a novelty, but as a meaningful contributor to the experience. For many women navigating decisions about their bodies, the environment in which those conversations happen matters. "We've built a space that feels supportive and private," Dr. Hardaway says. "Patients tell us they feel comfortable asking questions they might not have asked somewhere else. That comfort is part of the care."
The QUAD A Accreditation of the surgical center deserves particular attention for patients in the area who are weighing the option of an accredited private surgical facility against a hospital-based procedure. QUAD A accreditation requires unannounced inspections, documented emergency protocols, credentialed anesthesia providers, and adherence to standards that mirror hospital operating room requirements. For elective procedures, it represents the highest available safety benchmark outside of a hospital setting — and it means patients can have surgery in a private, comfortable environment without sacrificing the safety infrastructure that hospital-grade accreditation provides.
What to Look For — and What to Ask
Dr. Hardaway's guidance for patients evaluating plastic surgeons is grounded in the same standards she holds herself to, and it is specific enough to be genuinely useful in a market where credential claims can be difficult to parse.
The first question she recommends asking any surgeon is whether they are certified specifically by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. "There are other boards that use similar language," she says. "The American Board of Plastic Surgery is the one recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Ask for the specific board name, and verify it independently." This single question eliminates a significant portion of the confusion that surrounds plastic surgery credentialing.
She also advises patients to ask about the surgeon's hospital privileges — not just whether they have them, but where. Active privileges at accredited hospitals require ongoing peer review and credentialing that private practice alone does not. "If a complication requires hospital-level care, you want a surgeon who has a relationship with a hospital," she says. "That relationship doesn't happen automatically. It has to be earned and maintained."
On the question of consultations, she is direct: a surgeon who rushes the initial appointment, who does not take a full medical history, or who presents a treatment plan before asking what the patient actually wants is not operating in the patient's interest. "The consultation is where I learn what matters to you," Dr. Hardaway says. "If I don't know what you want to preserve, I can't make good decisions about what to change. That conversation has to happen before anything else."
Financing is also part of the practical conversation. The practice accepts major credit cards and offers CareCredit financing with fixed monthly payments, no upfront costs, and no prepayment penalties — options that make planned surgical care accessible without requiring patients to compromise on the quality of the surgeon they choose.
Thirty Years of Outcomes, One Patient at a Time
There is a version of plastic surgery that is transactional — a procedure performed, a check collected, a follow-up scheduled. Dr. Michelle Hardaway built her practice around a deliberate alternative. The before-and-after care her patients describe in reviews, the thoroughness of the consultation process, the continuity of a staff that follows through — these are not features of a high-volume practice optimized for efficiency. They are the characteristics of a surgeon who measures success by what her patients feel about themselves months and years after the procedure, not just in the immediate postoperative window.
Thirty years of surgical work in Michigan — from the trauma bays of Detroit Receiving Hospital to the private surgical suites of Farmington Hills — has produced a depth of experience that cannot be replicated by credentials alone. For patients in the Detroit metro area who are serious about choosing a surgeon they can trust with something this personal, that depth is worth understanding before making a decision.
Consultations are available by appointment, and the team at the Farmington Hills center is reachable directly to answer questions before a patient ever steps through the door.