Newsweek magazine released Wednesday, June 15, its now-annual lists of “America’s Best Plastic Surgeons.”
The five lists reflect a weighted tabulation of online survey responses solicited and received in March and April of this year from “skin healthcare professionals” across the nation.
Voters included plastic surgeons and their practice managers, but self-selection wasn’t permitted.
According to a joint presentation by Newsweek and Statista Inc, more than 2,000 such medical professionals were invited to the survey, and 5,900 votes were cast in all for each of five surgical specialties.
The votes ultimately placed 349 of the nation’s nearly 8,000 practicing plastic surgeons into 700 total ranking positions as the best 100-150 rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, facelift, liposuction, and breast augmentation surgeons in America.
These procedures were the most popular plastic surgeries of 2020, the latest year for which official statistics have been published.
Voted Best of The Best
Facelift & Rhinoplasty:
Former editor-in-chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (2005-2021), Dr. Rod J Rohrich, of Dallas, Texas, was voted the #1 best facelift surgeon in America for 2022, and the #1 best rhinoplasty surgeon for the year—both for the second consecutive year. Dr. Rohrich was also the only surgeon voted best-in-class in 2022 for two separate surgical procedures, and one of fewer than 25 surgeons whose name appears across all five lists.
Breast Augmentation:
Immediate past president of the Aesthetic Society (2020-2021), Dr. William P Adams Jr., of Dallas, Texas, was voted the #1 best breast augmentation surgeon in America for the second consecutive year. Dr. Adams also placed on the list of the nation’s best rhinoplasty and liposuction surgeons, at 82 and 113 respectively.
Blepharoplasty:
Professor of Plastic Surgery at New York University, double board-certified plastic surgeon, and Aesthetic Society Education & Research Foundation “Career Achievement Award” Honoree for 2022, Dr. Sherrell J. Aston of New York City, New York, was voted the nation’s #1 best eyelid surgery surgeon, and its 4th and 7th-place best facelift and rhinoplasty surgeon, respectively.
Liposuction:
Board-certified plastic surgeon and Aesthetic Society member Dr. Constantino Mendieta of Miami, Florida, was voted the nation’s #1 best liposuction surgeon. The popular BBL surgeon is president of a newly-formed ‘Surgeons for Safety’ group currently appealing statewide restrictions, passed in light of patient deaths, that limit Florida surgeons to performing no more than three BBLs per day.
Voted Best Across the Boards
Twenty-three of the awarded 349 plastic surgeons were voted among the nation’s best plastic surgeons in every one of the five separate subspecialties for which votes were collected.
The surveyed subspecialties were facelift surgery, rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery), breast augmentation, and liposuction, and the surgeons voted among the best in every one of these procedures follow below.
Surgeons whose names are set in italics were voted in the top 5 positions of a procedure, in addition to ranking across the boards.
| Surgeon | Face | Nose | Eyes | Breast | Lipo |
| Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, MD | #1 | #1 | #4 | #6 | #3 |
| Dr. Alan Matarasso, MD | 10 | 5 | 7 | 10 | #2 |
| Dr. David Hidalgo, MD, FACS | 12 | 48 | 27 | #2 | 7 |
| Dr. James M. Stuzin | #3 | 13 | #2 | 66 | 132 |
| Dr. James E. Zins, MD | 7 | 8 | #3 | 16 | 16 |
| Dr. Ashkan Ghavami, MD | 61 | #4 | 18 | 19 | 8 |
| Dr. Garth Fisher MD | 19 | 78 | 16 | #4 | 15 |
| Dr. Marissa Tenenbaum, MD | 25 | 15 | 28 | #5 | 17 |
| Daniel C. Baker, MD | #5 | 12 | 8 | 131 | 22 |
| Dr. Adam J. Oppenheimer, MD, FACS | 43 | 55 | 23 | 69 | 11 |
| Dr. Adam R. Kolker, MD, FACS | 39 | 51 | 44 | 9 | 12 |
| Dr. Anthony Berlet, MD | 91 | 62 | 29 | 71 | 62 |
| Dr. Enrique J. Armenta, MD | 99 | 65 | 54 | 118 | 51 |
| Dr. Kamran Khoobehi, MD | 29 | 41 | 61 | 21 | 24 |
| Dr. Louis P. Bucky | 11 | 33 | 25 | 15 | 32 |
| Dr. Marc Liang, MD, FACS | 24 | 44 | 34 | 30 | 48 |
| Dr. Peter G. Cordeiro, MD, FACS | 102 | 36 | 38 | 99 | 123 |
| Dr. Saied Asfa, MD, FACS | 127 | 120 | 65 | 128 | 139 |
| Mark R. Kobayashi, MD | 80 | 123 | 76 | 68 | 74 |
| Richard Zienowicz, MD | 94 | 49 | 14 | 143 | 67 |
| Scott A. Spiro, MD, FACS | 104 | 72 | 86 | 83 | 40 |
| Sumner A. Slavin, MD | 34 | 109 | 68 | 20 | 115 |
| Terence M. Myckatyn, MD | 31 | 56 | 91 | 41 | 25 |
| Surgeon | Face | Nose | Eyes | Breast | Lipo |
Though positions on the lists are coveted by some plastic surgeons, and a complex and multifaceted ranking system is used in their tabulation, the lists are not without their flaws.
Plastic surgeons who submit literature for peer-review and publication might call these shortcomings “confounding variables,” though Newsweek clarifies that the skill and quality of the many plastic surgeons whose names don’t appear on its ranking lists is “not disputed.”
Each of the lists’ 700 entries as published on Newsweek.com are followed by a prominent button allowing/encouraging ranking plastic surgeons to claim a profile on the website.
If claimed (at considerable cost), a “personalized doctor profile” on the magazine’s website would allow the awarded surgeon to “reach over 40 million readers and potential patients!,” the publication proclaims.
Payment would also allow for a surgeon’s use of a specially designed logo in promoting their placement on the lists for a period of one year.
This year’s lists also highlights the industry’s lack of women plastic surgeons, or a lack of awareness or appreciation for their surgical skill.
Eighty percent of a surgeon’s final position on each list was determined by peer recommendations, 15% was determined by a quality assessment by peers/surveyees, and five percent was determined by a surgeon’s board-certification or lack thereof.