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Top 3 Plastic Surgeons

An independent publication on aesthetic and plastic surgery

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The Lead · Industry

Arnica and Bromelain for Bruising After Surgery: What the Trials Show and What the Recovery Kit Sells

Almost every cosmetic practice in Los Angeles sends patients home with arnica, bromelain, or both, and a growing number sell them at the front desk in a branded recovery kit. The evidence behind the habit is thinner than the confidence with which it is dispensed: a handful of small randomized trials, several of them contradictory, a systematic review that called the data inadequate, and a homeopathic product that by definition contains almost none of the plant on its label. Here is what arnica and bromelain have actually been shown to do for bruising after surgery, the difference between the versions that are harmless and the versions that are not, and how to tell whether the kit you were handed is medicine or merchandise.

August 28, 2026

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By The Editorial Desk

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10 min

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Industry

Steroids for Swelling After Plastic Surgery: What a Single Dose of Dexamethasone Does and Does Not Do

A shot of dexamethasone at the start of a rhinoplasty or facelift is one of the most common things a surgeon does that the patient never hears about. The evidence for it is real but narrow: a single intravenous dose measurably reduces early swelling and bruising, cuts postoperative nausea by about a quarter, and does so with little downside in a healthy patient. The evidence for the things that get built on top of it, the multi-day taper packs, the repeated injections, the steroid as a substitute for good technique, is much thinner and the tradeoffs are not theoretical. Here is what the trials actually show, where the wound-healing and blood-sugar costs start, and how to ask whether the steroid in your plan is doing a job or covering for one.

August 28, 2026 · 8 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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