Patients who want it want the best they can afford.
Doctors who provide it want to be known for delivering the best of it that money can buy.
With national interest in the “best plastic surgeons” growing exponentially over the last 20 years, Newsweek magazine in 2021 began publishing comprehensive lists of America’s best plastic surgeons.
Based on votes by 2,000-plus peers, the lists are exhaustive and backed by a published methodology.
Surgeons are separately ranked on their skill in each of the years’ most popular plastic surgery procedures, from breast augmentation to liposuction, and blepharoplasty to rhinoplasty.
Placement on the lists is rather coveted. Surgeons promote their awarded status through press releases and social media updates, and the lists appear prominently in online search results.
Rapidly growing in popularity to become the most widely-viewed rankings of their kind, the lists aren’t without a drawback that may affect patients and providers alike.
Popular for most, problematic for some
Plastic surgeons in 30 US states are omitted from the rankings lists, which include only the top 20 states with the greatest number of plastic surgeons, as recorded by the US Census Bureau.
Though more US states are omitted from the list than are included on it, roughly 80 percent of surgeons live and work in the states where the ‘best plastic surgeons’ are eligible for inclusion.
Best plastic surgeons lists omit 30 states; 20% of plastic surgeons
Plastic surgeons from any of the following states will not appear on the most comprehensive and widely-viewed lists of the nation’s best plastic surgeons, even if they would otherwise qualify for the distinction. These 30 states account for roughly 20 percent of the total number of practicing plastic surgeons in the country.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Best plastic surgeons lists limited to 20 states; 80% of plastic surgeons
Only plastic surgeons from these states are included in this years’ list of the best plastic surgeons in America. These 20 states account for roughly 80 percent of the total number of practicing plastic surgeons in the country.
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Missouri
- New Jersey
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
The US states where the highest number of cosmetic surgery procedures are performed are California, Florida, and Texas.
The US states with the highest number of America’s ‘best plastic surgeons’ are California, New York, Florida, and Texas.
While not without their few flaws, Newsweek’s lists of the best plastic surgeons in America are likely more accurate and more helpful to patients than the pay-to-play lists that once preceded them.