Can You Trust Newsweek’s Best Plastic Surgeon Rankings? What Patients Need to Know

It is a question worth asking. Every year, prestigious awards and rankings appear across plastic surgeons’ websites and social media profiles. One of the most recognizable is Newsweek’s America’s Best Plastic Surgeons ranking, produced in partnership with Statista. For patients, these awards can seem like an easy way to identify the best surgeon. However, there is a problem with assuming that a ranking automatically indicates who the best surgeon is for a particular procedure.

As Dr. Maercks recently discussed in a Reel, he has received multiple Newsweek awards himself — including awards for procedures he does not even perform. This raises a bigger question: What exactly are these rankings measuring?

“I Won Four” — Even Though I Don't Do Some of the Procedures

Dr. Maercks' reaction to the discussion surrounding Newsweek's rankings is deliberately humorous. After Dr. Subbio questioned the value of the awards, one obvious response was: “You're just angry you didn't win one.” Dr. Maercks' answer? He did not lose out. He won four.

The problem, as he explains, is that he has received awards for procedures that he does not even perform. This distinction between an award and an objective measurement of surgical ability becomes important. An award can tell you that a surgeon was recognized according to a particular methodology. However, it cannot necessarily tell you that the surgeon is the best person in the country to perform a specific operation.

How Does Newsweek’s Ranking Actually Work?

The current 2026 America's Best Plastic Surgeons ranking is produced by Newsweek in partnership with Statista. According to Statista, the ranking considers three main areas:

• Recommendations from medical professionals

• Quality assessments

• Relevant certification

  
  

For the 2026 ranking, more than 5,500 doctors were evaluated, and over 10,000 votes were counted for each procedure. The ranking recognizes surgeons across six cosmetic procedures, including facelift, rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, liposuction, tummy tuck, and eyelid surgery. On the surface, that may sound comprehensive. However, the details of the methodology matter.

For 2026, in-state and out-of-state recommendations account for 80% of the overall score. For in-state recommendations, participants are also asked to assess elements such as consultation, complications, follow-up care, and outcomes. This means a substantial part of the final result is based on professional recommendations. This brings us to the fundamental problem with trying to create a definitive ranking of surgical ability.

Can You Really Rank the “Top 10” Surgeons?

Dr. Maercks' answer is essentially no. There is no universally objective way to say that one surgeon is the best facelift surgeon in America, followed by the second-best, third-best, and so on. Surgical results are not like a 100-meter race. There is no finish line that produces an indisputable time. There are too many variables.

A surgeon may be exceptionally skilled at one procedure and less experienced in another. Two surgeons may use completely different techniques and achieve excellent results. Patients have different anatomy, different starting points, and different expectations. Even the definition of an “excellent” result can be subjective.

You can recognize that a surgeon is highly skilled. You can evaluate their training. You can examine their results. You can assess their experience. However, reducing surgical expertise to a simple numerical ranking creates a level of precision that may not actually exist.

A Surgeon Can Be Excellent Without Appearing on a List

This is another important point. The absence of a surgeon from a ranking does not mean that surgeon is not highly skilled. Statista itself makes this clear in its disclaimer. It states that inclusion reflects recognition according to the methodology and information available during the relevant data-collection period. It also says the rankings should not be used as the sole basis for decision-making and should be considered alongside other sources of information.

In other words, not being on the list does not prove that a surgeon is not excellent. Conversely, being on the list does not guarantee that a surgeon is the right choice for every patient. Some extraordinarily talented surgeons may simply not participate in, attract enough recommendations for, or otherwise meet the particular criteria used by a ranking.

What About the Certification Score?

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the current methodology is the role of certification. The 2026 methodology gives surgeons with American Board of Plastic Surgery certification 5% toward their total score. That is worth understanding. Board certification is obviously important when assessing a surgeon's formal training and qualifications. However, Dr. Maercks' point is that if certification contributes only a small proportion of a ranking's overall score, then the ranking itself should not be interpreted as a comprehensive assessment of a surgeon's training.

The question for patients should therefore remain: Who trained this surgeon, where did they train, what are they certified in, and how much experience do they have with the procedure I am considering? Those are questions worth asking independently of any award.

What About Recommendations?

The recommendation component is particularly interesting. Newsweek and Statista's methodology asks medical professionals to recommend leading plastic surgeons for specific cosmetic procedures. Self-recommendations are not permitted. Professional recommendations can certainly be valuable. Surgeons know other surgeons. They understand the technical demands of surgery. They may have insight into colleagues' reputations and abilities that patients cannot easily assess.

However, recommendations are still recommendations. They are not a direct measurement of every surgeon's surgical results. They cannot possibly capture every highly skilled surgeon in the country.

Popularity Is Not the Same as Surgical Excellence

One of Dr. Maercks' concerns is the way these awards can become part of a surgeon's marketing. Once a surgeon receives a ranking, the award badge may appear on:

• Their website

• Their social media profiles

• Advertising

• Marketing materials

• Consultation materials

• Press coverage

  
  

The award then becomes a shorthand for quality. A patient sees: “America's Best Plastic Surgeon.” Understandably, they may assume: “This must be one of the very best surgeons in the country.” However, the methodology behind the award is considerably more complicated than that. The award represents recognition under a particular scoring system. It does not eliminate the need for patients to investigate the surgeon themselves.

What Should You Look At Instead?

If you are considering a facelift, rhinoplasty, or another cosmetic procedure, do not stop your research at an award badge. Look deeper.

1. What is the surgeon's training?

Find out what residency the surgeon completed and what specialty they trained in.

2. What board certification do they hold?

Understand exactly which board has certified them and what that certification represents.

3. How much experience do they have with your procedure?

A surgeon who performs a procedure regularly may have a very different level of experience from someone who performs it occasionally.

4. What is their surgical philosophy?

Can the surgeon explain why they recommend a particular technique? Do they have a clear understanding of facial anatomy and how their approach addresses it?

5. What do their results look like?

Look beyond a few carefully selected photographs. Ask whether the surgeon has extensive examples of results that are relevant to your anatomy and your goals.

6. How do they approach complications and revision surgery?

No surgery is risk-free. Understanding how a surgeon approaches complications and revision procedures can be just as important as looking at their best results.

7. Do you understand what you are actually being offered?

This may be the most important question of all. Make sure you understand what procedure is being recommended, what technique is being used, and why.

The Problem With “The Best”

The phrase “the best” sounds definitive. However, medicine rarely works that way. There can be excellent surgeons with very different approaches. There can be surgeons who specialize in different procedures. There can be surgeons whose particular strengths are better suited to particular patients. There can also be exceptional surgeons who never appear on a particular list.

Rather than asking: “Who is the number one surgeon?” A better question may be: “Which surgeon has the training, experience, philosophy, and results that are most appropriate for me?” That is a much harder question. However, it is also a much more useful one.

Why Patients Should Look Beyond Awards

At The Maercks Institute, the focus is on looking beyond labels and marketing language and understanding the underlying principles of facial surgery. A ranking can be one data point. An award can be one data point. Reviews can be one data point. Social media can be one data point. Before-and-after photographs can be one data point. However, none of these should replace understanding the surgeon themselves.

Who are they?

How did they train?

What do they actually do?

How often do they do it?

Why do they do it that way?

And what results do they consistently achieve?

Those are the questions that deserve your attention.

So, Can You Trust Newsweek's Rankings?

The answer is not simply “yes” or “no.” The Newsweek/Statista ranking has a defined methodology, and it can provide useful information about surgeons who receive recognition under that methodology. The 2026 ranking is based on professional recommendations, quality assessments, and certification data. However, it should not be confused with an objective, universally accepted measurement of who is the best surgeon.

Even Statista's own disclaimer states that the ranking should not be used as the sole basis for decision-making. This is the key takeaway. Do not choose your surgeon because they have a badge. Use the badge as a starting point for research — then look much deeper.

When choosing someone to operate on your face, you deserve more than a ranking. You deserve to understand their training, expertise, philosophy, experience, and results. Most importantly, you deserve to ask questions that go beyond: “Did they make the list?”