DR. WORLDWIDE GETS SOCIAL
DR. WORLDWIDE GET TO KNOW HIM
Frank Agullo, MD, FACS — known globally as Dr. WorldWide — is a double board-certified plastic surgeon in El Paso, Texas. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Affiliate Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. Specializing in preservation-based aesthetic surgery and the Deep Plane Facelift, he has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years and has a global social following of over 3.5 million across Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. He is the founder of Southwest Plastic Surgery and Plastic Surgery Studios.
Meet Dr.WWDR. WORLDWIDE GET TO KNOW HIM
Frank Agullo, MD, FACS is the plastic surgeon the world watches. Known globally as Dr. WorldWide, he has built one of the largest followings of any surgeon on the planet (over 3.5 million on Instagram @RealDrWorldWide) by pulling back the curtain on plastic surgery and showing what extraordinary results actually look like. Celebrities, influencers, and patients from across the United States and around the world make the trip to El Paso, Texas, because when you have seen the work up close, there is nowhere else to go. More than 80% of his patients travel from outside El Paso. The practice handles every detail of their journey.
Dr. Agullo is double board-certified, Mayo Clinic fellowship-trained, and a Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. But credentials only tell part of the story. What sets him apart is a philosophy built on preservation: enhancing, restoring, and elevating what is already there rather than changing who you are. Not cookie cutter. Every plan is molded around the individual patient's desires, their anatomy, their life.
That philosophy drives every decision in the operating room. His Motiva Preserve breast augmentations deliver results that feel as natural as they look. His deep plane and endoscopic deep plane facelifts turn back time without announcing themselves. His Supercharged BBL has been refined, published, and presented on international stages. And his ability to combine face and body procedures in a single operative session is a capability few surgeons in the world can offer safely at his level.
The same philosophy applies outside the OR. Forget synthetic fillers. Dr. Agullo restores volume with regenerative grafts including Alloclae, Lipoderma, exosomes, and platelet-derived growth factors. Recovery is treated as part of the result: lymphatic massages, scar management, and Elixir MD LED light therapy ensure that what happens after surgery is as intentional as what happens during it.
Castle Connolly Top Doctor for eleven consecutive years. Texas Super Doctors Hall of Fame. Best Plastic Surgeon in El Paso for thirteen consecutive years. Aesthetic Everything Top Plastic Surgeon 2026. Founding Vice President and President of the World Association of Gluteal Surgeons, where he helped write the global safety standards for gluteal surgery.
The results are daily. The standard is uncompromising. The philosophy is simple: #MakeItHappen. #HappyIsBeautiful. #StayBeautiful.
#PlasticSurgeryIsMyPassion
GLAMOUR SHOTS
Plastic Surgery is a very personal choice and a unique experience for every individual who chooses to undergo a change, be it a discreet or major surgery. The one thing in common for my patients though is that they experience an inner transformation which ultimately shines through as confidence in themselves. Confident is Beautiful!
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- Posted on: October 30th 2026
- Category: Commentary, Face, Facelift
Six months ago the internet said her facelift was slipping. Last weekend in Rome it said she stole the show. Both crowds were reading the wrong clock. I wrote about the honeymoon phase in April; this is the sequel. Why two to three months flatters every facelift, why month 18 is the honest before-and-after, what holds, what drifts, and what a seventy-year-old face sets as its own terms.
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- Posted on: October 30th 2026
- Category: Commentary, Face, Facelift
Rome, Saturday night, the All’s Fair premiere. Kris Jenner, 70, in a hooded cape that once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor. Hola says she stole the show and puts the facelift at “last year.” Call it eighteen months.
In April the internet said the lift was slipping. I wrote that one. This is the sequel. No diagnosis, just the clock.
The Honeymoon Is Not the Result
NewBeauty asked me about her in Boston. I told them “two, three months is kind of the honeymoon period for the facelift. That’s when she started posting and announcing that she had the facelift.”
“But on top of that, she had plenty of filters. Those looked amazing. They looked almost unrealistic, which they were.”
“And then when finally a year later we see a picture of her that, you know, they caught without her even being able to pose, you really see the real person.”
Why Month 18 Is the Honest Before-and-After
What my patients hear from us, in order.
“It does take patience because you’ll be swollen. You’ll have bruising. It takes a couple of weeks for people to be comfortable with other people seeing them. So, usually, two weeks, and then if you have any very special events, usually it takes six weeks to really look your best.”
Our pre-op nurse, before every facelift: “For the face procedure recovery, that one is more like a psychological healing. The reason why, because the face is something that we can’t hide. When we do our body, we just put the garment and loose clothes and nobody notices. The face we can’t. So the majority of our patients, around week 3 to 4, they’re regretting what they did. I like to let you know, because once you remember what I tell you when you’re healing, you’re like, okay, she did tell me.”
“You might be one of the lucky ones that don’t swell up a lot, you might be one of the not so lucky that swell up a lot. It varies per patient. Just remember, if you’re very, very swollen, you’re not gonna stay like that.”
“After surgery, firm or hard areas are fibrosis and edema, a normal part of healing. I have patients massage these areas, a lot, and I tell them it keeps getting softer over about three months. It is a lot better at three months than at three weeks.”
Our nurse practitioner, when one side looks different: “You’re always gonna have that one side that’s gonna be a little different than the other depending on the asymmetry of your face. But then again, it’s just so premature right now, because everything’s very swollen, everything’s very irritated. They just removed sutures, so it’s gonna look very red. So we have to let it heal, let the swelling continue to subside.”
Six weeks for an event. Three months for the firmness. A year for the swelling. Eighteen months, nothing left to hide behind.
What Holds and What Drifts
| At 18 months | Usually holds | Usually drifts |
|---|---|---|
| Neck and jawline | Platysma repair, the cleaned jawline. The deepest work goes last. | Neck skin texture, which the lift never treated. |
| Midface and cheeks | The malar fat pad, if it was released and moved as one piece. | The midface, if the operation only pulled on the side of the face. |
| Volume | Fat grafts that survived the first six months. | Nothing, unless weight changes. |
| Skin | Nothing the lift did. | Sun damage, fine lines, pigment. |
| Scars | Faded to a fine line. | The earlobe, if closed under tension. |
On volume: “Even though we know the patient is going to keep fifty to eighty percent of the volume, that percentage is quite unpredictable, so we are always overfilling.” And: “The good thing is that whatever does stay is going to be quite permanent, and of course maintaining your weight is going to help with that. We know that with aging, fat will decrease in the face regardless, so it is a procedure that we probably have to repeat in the future.”
On weight, from a read I did on another face this fall: “as surgeons we know that 10 or 15 pounds makes a huge difference in the face, whether you gain it or lose it.” And “A facelift will change the position of the tissues,” not the amount of them.
On the midface, the technique question I raised in April is answered at eighteen months, not at eight weeks. More in the facelift you can’t see. A premiere is still a premiere, lighting and glam included; I have not examined her.
A Seventy-Year-Old Face Sets Its Own Terms
“So we have to have realistic expectations, especially when you’re a lot older.”
As I put it in Boston, “if you operate on somebody that’s 30 or 40, it’s not the same as somebody that’s 70 or 80.”
“I think the deep plane lift and the endoscopic deep plane lift are great procedures, which create very natural and long-lasting results, and we’re seeing patients completely avoid the noninvasive procedures and go straight to the surgical procedures early on.”
“I think patients are becoming a lot more willing to undergo facial procedures, including facelifts, because the results now are actually natural and do not change their overall appearance. So they still have a self identity after these procedures and they’re recognizable; they’re just looking ten to fifteen years younger.”
What I Add So the Result Keeps Holding
“In my practice, I’ve really seen a huge increase in face procedures, specifically the deep plane face lift and deep plane neck lift, as well as the total endoscopic deep plane face lift, otherwise known as the ponytail lift. These face lifts are often combined with facial fat grafting, upper and lower eyelid surgery, microneedling with radiofrequency or laser resurfacing, sometimes an upper lip lift, fat transfer to the lips, and earlobe reduction.”
“With most facelift procedures we also do fat grafting. We usually recommend Morpheus8 with Iriescence PDGF, or the Sciton MicroLaserPeel with Profractional, depending on your skin type. We can also use exosomes or nanofat.”
The ten-year version: mother or daughter. Reading a face from photos without diagnosing anyone: Kristen Wiig. The surgical timeline is on agulloplasticsurgery.com; the maintenance version is on the Southwest Plastic Surgery post.
Why Choose Dr. Agullo
Dr. Agullo is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery, completed his plastic surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic, and serves as Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. He trained in the endoscopic deep plane lift at the Ponytail Academy in Pittsburgh (intermediate) and Santa Monica (advanced). He has been a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years, 2014 through 2026. His twelve-month photos are the real photos, usually in black and white.
Ready to Talk?
Bring a photo from ten years ago and one that bothers you now. I will tell you what a lift would move, what it would not, and what month eighteen looks like.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com. #StayBeautiful
Find me at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.
- Posted on: October 30th 2026
- Category: Breast Surgery, Commentary, Surgeon Take
The internal bra is a palm-sized sheet of mesh that dissolves over two years and leaves collagen behind. I put one in nearly every breast operation I do. The question I get is not what it does. It is whether she wants it in her body at all. Here is my answer, and the one fact about feeling it that nobody tells you.
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- Posted on: October 30th 2026
- Category: Breast Surgery, Commentary, Surgeon Take
A sheet of mesh the size of your palm. Two years, then gone, collagen left behind. I put one in nearly every breast operation I do.
Every Lift, Every Reduction, Every Augmentation
“I actually recommend internal mesh support on all patients, on breast lifts, breast reductions, and breast augmentations.”
“In a breast lift and a breast reduction, it actually helps reshape the breast tissue and support it, just like a push-up bra, to gain more upper pole fullness and avoid bottoming out and lateral displacement.”
“Of course, this is a recommendation, and some patients decline using the mesh, with the knowledge that they will not have that added support.”
Two Years
“The mesh supports the tissues for a period of up to two years. As it dissolves, it leaves behind collagen deposits, so the support remains there even well after the mesh has gone.”
“I use two main types of mesh. GalaFLEX, including GalaFLEX LITE, which is lighter, and DuraSorb mesh. The choice depends on each patient and what we want to achieve.”
The Worry
“We have not had a single case of infected mesh when we have used DuraSorb or GalaFLEX, and we have never had to remove the mesh.”
My practice. Not a study.
“We have been using internal mesh support for breast reconstruction for more than 20 years, and these techniques have been incorporated into aesthetic surgery. There are always risks associated with using any implanted material. In my experience with GalaFLEX and DuraSorb, I have seen significantly fewer complications, if any, compared to other mesh systems and dermal grafts. A lot of the symptoms alleged to have resulted from the use of mesh can actually occur when we don’t use a mesh at all.”
The Fact Nobody Tells You
“There have been cases where the mesh is palpable, and we have decreased this risk by changing to GalaFLEX LITE, which is thinner and less palpable, and to DuraSorb. The fact that the mesh can sometimes be palpated is a sign that the patient has very thin tissues, through which the mesh can be felt. If we had not used a mesh in these cases, we would probably be able to palpate the implant or visually see rippling. In these cases, the mesh is actually helping to thicken the skin and tissue envelope, and as the mesh dissolves over time, that palpability disappears.”
Feel the mesh, or feel the implant. That is the choice thin tissue gives you. Rippling is the version without the mesh.
“It is important to also realize that there are risks involved with not using a mesh. These risks include rippling, implant palpability, and implant displacement.”
| She asks | The answer |
|---|---|
| Do I need it? | I recommend it on every lift, reduction and augmentation; declining is her call |
| How long is it in there? | Up to two years, then collagen in its place |
| What if I can feel it? | Thin tissue; without the mesh she would feel the implant |
| Does it change recovery? | No, and not the drain either |
Contracture
“In all actuality, there has been increasing evidence that the use of GalaFLEX and DuraSorb can decrease the risk of capsular contracture or capsular contracture recurrence. In many cases of recurrent capsular contracture, we are actually recommending a complete wrap of the implant with GalaFLEX or DuraSorb mesh to decrease the risk of recurrence.”
More on that in the capsular contracture revision read.
Recovery
“When we use a mesh, it does not change recovery time, it does not change whether we use a drain or not, and it does not affect how long the drain stays if we do decide to use one.”
The operation where the mesh earns its keep is the auto augmentation lift. The surgical read with the cost ranges is on agulloplasticsurgery.com; the patient version is on the Southwest Plastic Surgery post.
Why Choose Dr. Agullo
Double board-certified, by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. Mayo Clinic plastic surgery fellowship. Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Castle Connolly Top Doctor for 13 consecutive years.
Ready to Talk?
Ask to hold the mesh. Then decide. (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book at agulloplasticsurgery.com/appointments. #StayBeautiful
@RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.
