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Top 3 Plastic Surgeons

An independent publication on aesthetic and plastic surgery

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A woman in her twenties with a tousled dark brown bob and bangs and faintly pink cheeks, wearing a plain grey crewneck sweater, seated beside a window ledge in a bare room with warm plaster walls and a wooden bench behind her, gazing toward the soft side light

The Lead · Procedure Deep-Dive

Hemangioma in Adults: What a Childhood Strawberry Mark Leaves Behind, Why the Fibrofatty Lump, Leftover Vessels, and Loose Skin Rarely Fade on Their Own, Which Lasers and Operations Treat the Residue, and How to Tell a Hemangioma From a Vascular Malformation That Behaves Differently

An infantile hemangioma is the most common tumor of infancy, and the familiar reassurance is that it will go away. It does shrink. But in a large share of children it leaves something behind: a soft fatty bulge, a web of fine vessels, a patch of thin, wrinkled skin, a scar from an ulcer, or a lip or nose tip that grew into a different shape. Adults who were told to wait it out often arrive at a consultation decades later with residue that never resolved. Here is what hemangiomas are, what involution actually leaves, how propranolol changed childhood treatment, what lasers and surgery can do for the residue by location, and why a mark that was there at birth and never shrank is probably not a hemangioma at all.

October 16, 2026

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By The Editorial Desk

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18 min

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A woman in her late twenties with a short, tousled dark bob, wearing a charcoal crew-neck knit sweater, seated on a wooden bench beside a bare pale wall and a window with brick visible outside, one hand resting on her knee, looking toward the window

Procedure Deep-Dive

Nipple Piercings and Breast Surgery: When the Jewelry Has to Come Out, Why a Piercing Is an Infection Question Next to an Implant, What Augmentation, Lifts, and Reductions Do to the Piercing Track, and Whether and When Re-Piercing Is Reasonable

Nipple piercings are common, and so is breast surgery, but the two meet in a gap in the patient information. Patients are told to remove jewelry on the morning of the operation and little else, when the real questions are whether the piercing is fully healed, whether it is colonized, where the incision will run, and what happens to a piercing track after a lift or a reduction moves the nipple. Here is what a nipple piercing changes about breast augmentation, lifts, reductions, and gynecomastia surgery, how it relates to implant infection risk, and what the evidence does and does not say about re-piercing afterward.

October 16, 2026 · 15 min

A woman in her early sixties with short silver hair, wearing a soft grey knit sweater, seated on a cream sofa in a sunlit room beside a potted plant, hands clasped in her lap, smiling softly at the camera

Procedure Deep-Dive

Parkinson's Disease and Cosmetic Surgery: Why Levodopa Timing Matters More Than the Anesthetic, Which Anti-Nausea Drugs and Painkillers to Avoid, What a Deep Brain Stimulator Means for Facelifts and Energy Devices, and How to Plan a Recovery Around Swallowing, Blood Pressure, and Falls

Nearly one million Americans live with Parkinson's disease, and many of them reasonably want the same facial and body procedures as anyone else their age. The anesthetic is rarely the problem. The problems are a levodopa dose that slips by two hours, an anti-nausea drug that blocks dopamine, a painkiller that clashes with an MAO-B inhibitor, a stimulator wire running exactly where a neck lift incision goes, and a recovery week built for patients who can stand up quickly and swallow easily. Here is what actually matters, and what to ask before booking.

October 16, 2026 · 16 min

A woman around thirty with shoulder-length dark curly hair, wearing a loose oatmeal-colored long-sleeve linen shirt and matching trousers, seated on a wooden chair beside a bright window against a pale plaster wall, forearm resting across her knee, gazing thoughtfully toward the window light

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 · 16 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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