Short answer
No. Plastic surgery is largely reconstructive: repairing burns, injuries, birth defects such as cleft lip, and the effects of cancer, which is rewarded service. What a Muslim surgeon should avoid is performing purely cosmetic operations that the Hanafi school counts as changing Allah's creation, since helping in a sin is itself sinful. Ask a mufti about your own practice.
Training and working as a plastic or reconstructive surgeon is permissible and can be an act of worship. A procedure that is haram for the patient, such as reshaping normal features purely for beauty, is not allowed for the surgeon either, and payment for it is impure income.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The field takes its name from a Greek word for moulding, not from plastic. Much of its work restores what illness or injury took: skin grafts after burns, rebuilding a breast after cancer, repairing a cleft lip or palate, hand surgery, and correcting deformities. Islam permits all of this. A Companion who lost his nose in battle was told by the Prophet ﷺ to have one made of gold when his silver one began to smell, which scholars cite for restoring what was lost.
The problem is the purely cosmetic side of the trade. The Prophet ﷺ cursed those who change Allah's creation for beauty. On the Hanafi view, operations such as reshaping a normal nose, breast enlargement or a face-lift to look younger are not allowed (see is cosmetic surgery haram), and Allah says not to cooperate in sin (5:2), so a Muslim surgeon should not perform them.
If you are a Muslim surgeon or training to be one:
- Choose reconstructive, burns, hand or craniofacial work, which is a large part of the specialty.
- Where a procedure has a real medical reason, such as correcting a deformity or a breast reduction for back pain, it is treatment, not vanity.
- If a training programme requires you to assist in cosmetic cases, ask a mufti how far that need allows it.
- Keep the rules of awrah, and avoid being alone with patients of the opposite sex beyond need.
Income from permitted operations is halal. Income from haram procedures should be avoided, and anything already earned that way given away in charity without hoping for reward. The four schools share these principles.
Ask a mufti about your own case. This answer explains the general ruling. When the details of your situation matter, as they do here, ask a qualified mufti and give them the full facts. Where to ask a scholar.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:119
وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ ءَاذَانَ ٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنَ وَلِيًّۭا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًۭا مُّبِينًۭا ﴿١١٩﴾
And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them [sinful] desires, and I will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle, and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allah." And whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allah has certainly sustained a clear loss.
Changing Allah's creation for vanity is Satan's call.
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:2
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تُحِلُّوا۟ شَعَٰٓئِرَ ٱللَّهِ وَلَا ٱلشَّهْرَ ٱلْحَرَامَ وَلَا ٱلْهَدْىَ وَلَا ٱلْقَلَٰٓئِدَ وَلَآ ءَآمِّينَ ٱلْبَيْتَ ٱلْحَرَامَ يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًۭا مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرِضْوَٰنًۭا ۚ وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَٱصْطَادُوا۟ ۚ وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَـَٔانُ قَوْمٍ أَن صَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ أَن تَعْتَدُوا۟ ۘ وَتَعَاوَنُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلْبِرِّ وَٱلتَّقْوَىٰ ۖ وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلْعُدْوَٰنِ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ ﴿٢﴾
O you who have believed, do not violate the rites of Allah or [the sanctity of] the sacred month or [neglect the marking of] the sacrificial animals and garlanding [them] or [violate the safety of] those coming to the Sacred House seeking bounty from their Lord and [His] approval. But when you come out of ihram, then [you may] hunt. And do not let the hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-Masjid al-Haram lead you to transgress. And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.
Performing a forbidden operation is helping in sin.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5931
Sahih... والمتفلجات للحسن المغيرات خلق الله ...
"Allah has cursed... those who file their teeth apart for beauty, changing the creation of Allah."
Changing normal features for beauty is forbidden.
Sunan an-Nasa'i 5161
Grading to be checked... فأمره النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أن يتخذ أنفا من ذهب ...
"The Prophet told him to have a nose made of gold."
Restoring what was lost through injury is permitted.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Takmilat Fath al-Mulhim (Mufti Taqi Usmani), Kitab al-Libas wa al-Zinah, on the hadith of those who change Allah's creation. Distinguishes treatment and repair from cosmetic change for beauty.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Ijarah, Bab al-Ijarah al-Fasidah, on hiring for sinful work. Wages for sinful acts are not lawful income.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.