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Top 3 Plastic Surgeons

An independent publication on aesthetic and plastic surgery

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The Lead · Procedure Deep-Dive

Albinism and Cosmetic Surgery: Skin Cancer Checks, Sun Damage, Hermansky-Pudlak Bleeding, Lasers, Hair Removal, and Low Vision

People with albinism make little or no melanin, so their skin ages faster in the sun, develops skin cancer earlier, and responds differently to lasers built to target pigment. A small subset have Hermansky-Pudlak syndrome, a related condition that causes bleeding and, in some types, lung scarring, and that a normal platelet count will not reveal. Cosmetic treatment is usually possible, but the order of operations matters.

November 13, 2026

By The Editorial Desk

18 min

Heart Failure and Cosmetic Surgery: Ejection Fraction, Diuretics, SGLT2 Inhibitors, Liposuction Fluid Limits, Tummy Tucks, and Anesthesia

Heart failure is far more common than most cosmetic patients realize, and many people living with it are stable, active, and newly slimmer after weight-loss medication. It does not automatically rule out an elective procedure, but it changes which operations make sense, where they happen, which pills stop and when, and how much fluid a liposuction can safely use. Here is what heart failure means for a tummy tuck, liposuction, breast surgery, and the anesthesia plan, and why the word stable carries most of the weight.

November 13, 2026 · 20 min

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Procedure Deep-Dive

Lichen Planus and Cosmetic Procedures: Koebner Lesions in Scars, Dark Pigment, Oral Lichen Planus, Lip Filler, Lasers, and Hepatitis C

Lichen planus is a common inflammatory disease of the skin, mouth, nails, scalp, and genitals, and it has a habit of appearing exactly where skin has been injured. For anyone considering surgery, lasers, peels, tattooed brows, or lip filler, that habit matters, as does the stubborn brown and gray pigment the disease can leave behind. Most people with lichen planus can have cosmetic treatment safely, but the timing, the choice of procedure, and the expectations are different.

November 13, 2026 · 17 min

A woman in her thirties with shoulder-length wavy brown hair, wearing a gray cardigan over a white tee, seated at a wooden kitchen table beside a bright window, holding a white mug above a few folded papers, looking toward the window with a slight smile

Procedure Deep-Dive

Cushing's Syndrome and Cosmetic Surgery: Buffalo Hump, Belly Fat, Purple Stretch Marks, Wound Healing, Blood Clots, and Steroid Withdrawal

Some of the most common body contouring requests (a fuller belly that will not shrink, a hump at the base of the neck, a rounder face, new stretch marks) are also the textbook signs of too much cortisol. Cushing's syndrome is rare, but it is the diagnosis a body contouring consultation is most likely to stumble into, and operating before it is found or treated means operating on thin skin, slow healing, sticky blood, and fat that comes back.

November 12, 2026 · 19 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.

2 featured · California

Beverly Hills

An editorial guide to the city's aesthetic medicine scene.

3 featured · California

Los Angeles

An editorial guide to the city's plastic surgery scene beyond the Beverly Hills triangle.

3 featured · New York

New York

An editorial guide to the city's plastic surgery establishment.

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

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

Top 3 Plastic Surgeons

Albinism and Cosmetic Surgery: Skin Cancer Checks, Sun Damage, Hermansky-Pudlak Bleeding, Lasers, Hair Removal, and Low Vision

Heart Failure and Cosmetic Surgery: Ejection Fraction, Diuretics, SGLT2 Inhibitors, Liposuction Fluid Limits, Tummy Tucks, and Anesthesia

Lichen Planus and Cosmetic Procedures: Koebner Lesions in Scars, Dark Pigment, Oral Lichen Planus, Lip Filler, Lasers, and Hepatitis C

Cushing's Syndrome and Cosmetic Surgery: Buffalo Hump, Belly Fat, Purple Stretch Marks, Wound Healing, Blood Clots, and Steroid Withdrawal