Est. MMXXVIIndependent

Top 3 Plastic Surgeons

An independent publication on aesthetic and plastic surgery

Beverly HillsLos AngelesNew YorkMiami
A woman around thirty with dark curly hair in a loose ponytail, wearing a cream high-collared top and jeans, resting her chin on her hand beside a tall window and looking out in soft daylight

The Lead · Procedure Deep-Dive

Acanthosis Nigricans: Why the Skin on the Neck and Armpits Turns Dark and Velvety, What It Says About Insulin, Why Scrubbing and Bleaching Fail, and What It Means Before Cosmetic Surgery

Acanthosis nigricans is the dark, velvety thickening that shows up on the back of the neck, in the armpits, and in other body folds. People tend to treat it as a hygiene problem or a pigment problem, and it is usually neither. Here is what the patch actually is, why insulin resistance is the most common explanation, which medications can cause it, the rare pattern that needs a cancer workup, what the evidence shows for creams, peels, lasers, and metformin, why liposuction does not fix the metabolic problem underneath, and how it changes planning for elective surgery.

October 31, 2026

·

By The Editorial Desk

·

15 min

Top Stories

See all articles →
A woman in her thirties with dark hair loosely pinned up, wearing an oatmeal knit sweater, standing at a tall window with one raised hand resting against the frame and the other at her waist, gazing outside in soft daylight

Procedure Deep-Dive

Mondor's Disease and the Cord Under the Breast: Why a Tight Rope Appears After Breast Surgery, How It Differs From Axillary Web Syndrome, When It Needs a Mammogram, and What Actually Makes It Go Away

A firm, tender cord under the breast that pulls when the arm goes up is one of the most alarming things a patient can find and one of the more benign. Mondor's disease is a clotted, inflamed vein just under the skin, and it usually resolves on its own in weeks. Its neighbor, axillary web syndrome, starts in the armpit after lymph node surgery and behaves differently. Here is how to tell the cords apart, why a cord with no surgical explanation still deserves breast imaging, which symptoms are not a cord problem at all, and why aggressive massage and blood thinners are usually not the answer.

October 31, 2026 · 13 min

A woman around thirty with dark hair pulled back loosely, wearing an oversized charcoal linen shirt, sitting on a wooden chair beside a tall window with her hands folded in her lap, looking toward the light with a tired, thoughtful expression after a gigantomastia diagnosis

Procedure Deep-Dive

Gigantomastia: When Breast Growth Is Sudden and Extreme, Why Pregnancy, Puberty, and Certain Drugs Set It Off, What Has to Be Ruled Out First, and Why the Operation That Fixes It May Not Be the Last One

Gigantomastia is not simply a large bra size. It is rapid, disabling breast growth, usually set off by pregnancy, puberty, or a medication, and it can break down skin, cause infection, and in rare pregnancy cases become dangerous. It is uncommon enough that many patients see several clinicians before anyone names it. Here is how doctors separate it from ordinary macromastia, why a fast-growing breast needs imaging and sometimes a biopsy before anyone talks about a reduction, what bromocriptine and tamoxifen can and cannot do, when a nipple graft is the safer choice, and why recurrence, especially in a later pregnancy, belongs in the consent conversation from the start.

October 30, 2026 · 16 min

The City Guides

Top surgeons, city by city.

Short, considered editorial picks for the cities where aesthetic medicine has the highest concentration of practitioners doing distinct work. We add a city when we have done the reporting, not before.

More from the Journal

The complete archive →

§ 01 · Editorial Standards

Choosing a plastic surgeon is among the few decisions that cannot be appealed. It deserves real reporting, not advertising dressed as a recommendation.

Top 3 Plastic Surgeons is an independent publication covering aesthetic and plastic surgery: the procedures, the advances in technique, and the surgeons doing the most considered work in the field. We report on it. We do not sell placement within it.

We do not accept paid placement, and we do not rank by advertising spend or by the volume of five-star reviews a practice can solicit. Our reporting draws on board records, peer interviews, outcomes data, and direct patient testimony, revisited as the field changes.

§ 05 · The Letter

One letter, every Sunday.

Each issue carries one new surgeon profile, one dispatch from the reporting desk, and an editor's note on whatever question we could not stop thinking about that week. No sponsors. No partner content. No reason to exist except the subject.

Weekly · No cost · Leave at any time