Mr Parkhouse trained at Oriel College, Oxford, and the Middlesex Hospital and carried out research into wound healing for which he was awarded a Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1990. He was Editor of the British Journal of Plastic Surgery from 1997 to 2002.

He specialises in cosmetic and aesthetic plastic surgery and in the treatment of scarring disfigurement. He is frequently asked to perform revision procedures for patients who have had surgery elsewhere in the UK and abroad. His experience in treating unfavourable results of surgery has influenced his own personal approach to cosmetic surgery in which there is an emphasis on minimisation and avoidance of risk. He achieves this through unhurried planning followed by conservative surgery carefully personalised to individual needs and requirements.

He has extensive experience of writing medicolegal reports.