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Top 3 Plastic Surgeons

An independent publication on aesthetic and plastic surgery

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A woman around thirty with tousled shoulder-length dark hair, wearing a loose oatmeal V-neck knit sweater, seated on a gray sofa beside a bright window with one hand resting at her collarbone, gazing thoughtfully toward the light

The Lead · Procedure Deep-Dive

Mastitis, Breast Abscesses, and Breast Surgery: How Lactational, Periductal, and Granulomatous Mastitis Differ, Why a Red Breast That Will Not Settle Gets a Biopsy, and When an Augmentation, Lift, or Reduction Can Safely Follow

Mastitis is one word for at least three different problems: the inflamed breast of breastfeeding, the recurring abscess behind the nipple that is closely tied to smoking, and a rare, stubborn inflammation called granulomatous mastitis that can look exactly like cancer. Each one changes the plan for cosmetic breast surgery in a different way. Here is how they differ, what changed in the advice on breastfeeding mastitis, why a red breast that does not respond to antibiotics is investigated rather than treated again, how long to wait before an augmentation, lift, or reduction, and what happens when mastitis appears in a breast that already has an implant.

October 27, 2026

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By The Editorial Desk

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17 min

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A woman in her forties with chin-length ash-blond and silver hair, wearing an open-collar white linen shirt, seated on a wooden chair beside a tall window in a bare, softly lit room, gazing thoughtfully toward the light

Procedure Deep-Dive

Thyroid Disease, Thyroidectomy Scars, and Cosmetic Surgery: When an Underactive or Overactive Thyroid Postpones an Elective Operation, What Levothyroxine and Calcium Mean on Surgery Day, How a Tethered Neck Scar Is Revised, and How Thyroid Surgery Fits Around a Neck Lift

Thyroid disease is one of the commonest medical conditions in the people who book cosmetic surgery, and a thyroidectomy scar is one of the commonest reasons someone starts looking at their own neck in the mirror. Here is when an underactive or overactive thyroid is a reason to postpone an elective operation, why a biotin supplement can fake an abnormal thyroid test, what a removed thyroid means for calcium, voice, and the breathing tube, how a widened or tethered collar scar is treated and when it can be revised, and how a neck lift or facelift fits around an operated neck or an upcoming thyroid operation.

October 27, 2026 · 18 min

An athletic man around thirty with short dark hair and a trimmed beard, wearing a plain charcoal t-shirt, seated on a wooden bench by a bright window, one ear clearly visible as his hand rests against the opposite side of his face and jaw

Procedure Deep-Dive

Cauliflower Ear in Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, and MMA: Why a Swollen Ear Has to Be Drained Within Days, What Reconstruction Can and Cannot Restore, Why Ear Guards Matter, and How Grappling Fits Around Otoplasty, Rhinoplasty, and a Facelift

Cauliflower ear is not a bruise that sets. It is a pocket of blood trapped against cartilage that has lost its blood supply, and the body's response is to fill that pocket with scar and new cartilage. Treated within days, it is usually a minor procedure. Left for weeks, it becomes a permanent change that reconstruction can soften but rarely erase. Here is what happens inside the ear, why drainage without compression so often fails, what surgery on an established cauliflower ear actually involves, what the evidence says about ear guards, and how a grappler should plan around otoplasty, rhinoplasty, filler, or a facelift.

October 26, 2026 · 17 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.

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§ 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.

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