In california, for how many years do doctors have to intern if they specialize in surgery?

Question

for how many years are they residents if they elect to be plastic surgeons and specialize in cosmetic surgery? Can residents work for a cosmetic surgery office if they are under the supervision of attendings? Can they also get paid well although they are being supervised by more experienced doctors?

Answer 1

I generally agree with the above answer. Physicians performing cosmetic and functional reconstructive plastic surgery include oral maxillo facial surgeons, dentists, general surgeons, residency trained plastic surgeons, ENT (ear nose and throat) specialists and hacks.
To obtain license in most states you will need several years of accredited residency training. Most independent physician practices are not accredited training sites. With the exception of some affiliated with hospitals.
Residency pay is often enough to sustain you during training. You will not grow rich on your training pay. And your college and medical school debt still accumulates with interest growth.
So the simple answer you want is how long? To be well skilled and be board eligible count on a minimum of 5 years following medical school and a max of 8 years.

Answer 2

First of all, internship is the first year of residency, so it's one year regardless of the specialty.

Residency is a program that new doctors are accepted into, and they receive a salary. Plastic surgeons must first be general surgeons, and that residency is 5-7 years long. They then do a fellowship in plastic surgery, which is another year or two. Some doctors may further specialize by doing more fellowship training, if they want more experience in, perhaps, reconstructive hand surgery, or maxillofacial reconstruction.

I suppose residents could work for plastic surgeons under the attending's supervision. They are more likely to assist plastic surgeons in a hospital setting, though.

Residents receive a salary that is set by their program. It doesn't matter with whom they are working. Once they are licensed by the state, they can moonlight if they have the time and the permission of their program director. Most surgical residents barely have time to eat and sleep, so they're not too likely to have time to moonlight. (Although I think things have gotten better since I was a resident in the early 90's)