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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

Hidradenitis Suppurativa: Why Painful Lumps in the Armpits, Groin, and Under the Breasts Keep Coming Back, Why It Is Not an Infection or a Hygiene Problem, Where Antibiotics, Biologics, Laser, and Surgery Fit, and What It Means for Anyone Planning Cosmetic Surgery

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic inflammatory disease of the hair follicle that shows up as deep, painful lumps and draining tunnels in the armpits, groin, buttocks, and under the breasts. It is routinely mistaken for boils, ingrown hairs, or poor hygiene, and the average patient waits years for the right name. Here is what the disease actually is, how its stages are judged, what the evidence says about antibiotics, hormonal treatment, biologics, and laser hair removal, why lancing a lump rarely ends the problem while deroofing and wide excision can, and how the condition changes the plan for a breast reduction, an augmentation, a tummy tuck, or a body lift.

October 15, 2026

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By The Editorial Desk

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16 min

Top Stories

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Procedure Deep-Dive

Raynaud's Phenomenon and Cosmetic Surgery: Why Fingers Turn White in the Cold, How to Tell the Harmless Kind From the Kind That Signals Scleroderma, What It Means for Nipple Blood Supply After Breast Surgery, and How Ice, Epinephrine, Stimulants, and Nicotine Change the Plan

Raynaud's phenomenon turns fingers white, then blue, then red when the small arteries clamp down in the cold or under stress. For most people it is a nuisance with no underlying disease. For a minority it is the first sign of scleroderma or another connective tissue disease, and that version changes how skin heals. Here is how the two are told apart, what treatment does, which everyday drugs make spasm worse, why the nipple can behave like a finger after a breast reduction or lift, and what a surgeon and anesthesiologist should do differently with ice packs, local anesthetic, pulse oximeters, operating room temperature, and cooling devices.

October 15, 2026 · 17 min

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Procedure Deep-Dive

Vitiligo and Cosmetic Surgery: Why White Patches Can Appear in a New Scar, How to Tell Stable Vitiligo From Active Disease, What Ruxolitinib Cream, Light Therapy, and Grafting Actually Do, and Which Lasers, Tattoos, and Garments to Approach With Care

Vitiligo is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system destroys the cells that make skin pigment, leaving sharply outlined white patches. It is not contagious, not a skin cancer risk in the usual sense, and not a reason on its own to avoid cosmetic surgery. But it changes the plan. Skin injury can trigger new patches along an incision, a laser pass, a tattoo needle, or the edge of a compression garment, and whether the disease is stable or spreading decides how much that matters. Here is how vitiligo is diagnosed and told apart from other white spots, what the stability question means, what the creams, light treatments, and pills now available can and cannot do, how surgical repigmentation works, and what a surgeon should ask before operating on someone who has it.

October 15, 2026 · 18 min

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Procedure Deep-Dive

Epilepsy and Cosmetic Surgery: Why a Missed Seizure Medication Dose Matters More Than the Anesthetic, Which Drug Interactions Change Bleeding, Birth Control, and Pain Control, What Lasers and Light Devices Mean for Photosensitive Patients, and How to Plan a Recovery Around Seizure Risk

Millions of Americans live with epilepsy, and most of those whose seizures are well controlled can have cosmetic surgery safely. The risk is rarely the anesthetic itself. It is the missed dose on the morning of surgery, the sleepless first night, the antibiotic that quietly drops a drug level, the painkiller that lowers the seizure threshold, and the anti-seizure medication that thins platelets or cancels out the pill. Here is what actually raises seizure risk around an operation, how the common anti-seizure drugs interact with surgical care, which aesthetic devices deserve caution, and what a sensible recovery plan looks like.

October 14, 2026 · 15 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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