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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 dark wavy shoulder-length hair, wearing an oatmeal knit sweater, seated at a window ledge on a gray autumn morning with her eyes closed, fingertips resting along her cheekbones beside her nose

The Lead · Procedure Deep-Dive

Chronic Sinusitis, Nasal Polyps, and Rhinoplasty: Why a Straighter Septum Does Not Cure Sinus Disease, When Sinus Surgery and a Nose Job Belong in One Operation, What Allergies and an Afrin Habit Do to Recovery, and the Questions to Ask Before Booking

A large share of rhinoplasty patients arrive with a nose that does more than look wrong to them: it runs, it blocks, it aches behind the cheeks, and it has not smelled properly in years. Some of that is a crooked septum. A good deal of it is chronic sinusitis, nasal polyps, allergic swelling, or rebound congestion from a decongestant spray, none of which a cosmetic operation fixes on its own. Here is how sinus disease differs from a structural airway problem, why polyps and asthma travel together, when combining endoscopic sinus surgery with rhinoplasty is reasonable and when it should be staged, what allergies and Afrin do to healing, and how to sort out imaging, insurance, and who should be holding the instruments.

October 21, 2026

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By The Editorial Desk

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17 min

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A man in his mid twenties with tousled dark hair and light stubble, wearing a plain heather-grey crewneck sweatshirt and navy trousers, standing beside a tall wooden stool by a bright window against a pale wall, one hand resting on the stool seat and the other in his pocket

Procedure Deep-Dive

Pilonidal Cysts and Cosmetic Surgery: Why the Tailbone Abscess Keeps Coming Back, How Cleft Lift, Flaps, and Minimally Invasive Repairs Compare, Where Laser Hair Removal Fits, and What a Pilonidal History Means Before a BBL, Buttock Implants, or a Body Lift

Pilonidal disease is a chronic inflammatory condition in the cleft between the buttocks, driven by loose hair and friction rather than by a true cyst, and it most often strikes men in their late teens and twenties. It is famous for recurring after surgery, and the traditional deep excision left open to heal can take months. Here is what the condition actually is, how drainage, midline excision, off-midline flaps, the cleft lift, and newer minimally invasive repairs compare, what the evidence says about laser hair removal, and why anyone with a pilonidal history should say so before a Brazilian butt lift, buttock implants, sacral liposuction, or a lower body lift.

October 21, 2026 · 15 min

A man in his early thirties with tousled dark hair and a short beard, wearing a navy crewneck sweater, seated at a wooden kitchen table holding a ceramic mug and looking toward a bright window with potted flowers on the sill

Procedure Deep-Dive

Adult Cleft Lip and Nose Revision: Why the Definitive Cleft Rhinoplasty Waits for Jaw Growth, What Can Be Done About a Lip Scar, a Whistle Deformity, or a Tight Upper Lip, Why Rib Cartilage Comes Up So Often, and How to Find a Surgeon Who Treats the Whole Sequence

Most people born with a cleft lip had their first operation before they could walk, and many reach adulthood with a nose that blocks on one side, a lip scar they have learned to angle away from cameras, or a sense that the work was never quite finished. Adult cleft lip and nose revision is a real subspecialty with its own order of operations. Here is why the jaw and the bone graft come before the nose, what a secondary cleft rhinoplasty actually rebuilds, which lip problems respond to scar revision and which need the muscle redone, how fat grafting and lower lip flaps fit, and what to ask before anyone operates again.

October 20, 2026 · 18 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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