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 22nd 2026
- Category: Commentary, Face, Surgeon Take
On her family podcast this week Sharon Osbourne, 74, traced a line from the corner of her nose to her chin and called it an indentation, the result of a procedure she says was handed to a colleague mid-operation. She did not name the surgeon or the procedure, and neither will I. What I can tell you is what leaves a dent, why it happens, and the three ways I fix one: cut the band, add fat, or revise.
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- Posted on: October 22nd 2026
- Category: Commentary, Face, Surgeon Take
Sharon Osbourne, 74, on her family’s podcast this week, finger tracing a line from the corner of her nose to her chin. An indentation, she called it (People has the clip). Her account: the surgeon took a phone call and handed the work to a colleague. She did not name the surgeon or the operation. Neither will I, and I have not examined her.
But I fix dents. Here is where they come from and what I do about them.
What a Dent Is
A hollow is one of three things: too much taken out, something pulling the skin in from underneath, or volume that left on its own. Each has a different fix.
Too much taken out, in my own operating room, is the thing I watch for constantly:
“Let’s take a look. We have to be careful, because we don’t want to overdo it and then you get irregularities. There’s no fat here, really. It’s really just muscle. That’s all the fat that you have on the other side. We want that amount of fat; that makes it nice and smooth. If I take any more out, then it’s going to look irregular.”
“I would try to get as much as we can without creating any irregularity.”
Something pulling from underneath:
“The thing with the dimples is that you can fill it in, but there’s a band that’s pulling on the skin and creating that dimple. So what we have to do is cut the band. And it pops out. And then we can put a little fat there. Otherwise, it comes right back.”
Fix One: Fat, Placed at the Same Time
Removing a small lump near the eye of a patient who had surgery elsewhere:
“I’ll have to see when I take it out that it doesn’t create a dent. If it does, I’ll put a little bit of fat at the same time to camouflage it.”
That is the habit. Anticipate the hollow and fill it before the patient ever sees it.
“I think fat grafting has been rising for many years. It’s an essential component of almost all facial procedures. I incorporate fat grafting into lower eyelid surgery, I incorporate it into all my facelifts, and I incorporate it in any facial procedure where the patient has lost a considerable amount of weight.”
Fix Two: Release, Then Fat
“The back, I would try to pop out a little bit with the cannula, so I would release the bands, and then I might put just a little bit of fat so those fibers don’t stick again.”
Cut what is pulling, fill what is missing, in that order. Fat into a tethered dent comes right back out.
| What is pulling the skin in | What I do |
|---|---|
| Too much fat removed | Fat graft to the hollow, or donor fat (alloClae) when the patient has none to give |
| A scar band tethering skin to muscle | Release the band, then a small fat graft so it does not re-stick |
| Volume lost with weight or age | Fat graft; filler as a short-term bridge |
| Tissue repositioned unevenly in a lift | Revision, after the swelling has fully settled |
“We’ve been using alloClae very often. I’m one of the early adopters, and actually one of the first 20 surgeons who was invited to start using alloClae, more than a year ago. The most common places we’re using it are in the breast, in liposuction contour irregularities, and in the buttock, especially for projection or to fill in the hip dips.”
Why Not Just Filler
“Filler cannot really give us a natural feel. When properly done it can give us a natural look, but it’s often overdone. It can also not give us a long lasting result, and this is where fat has its benefits. Now, the main factor that disappoints people with fat injections is that the amount of retention is really unpredictable.”
Filler is a bridge. Fat is the repair. Both have a catch; the long version is in my fat vs filler read.
Fix Three: Revision, and Who Will Do It
“Some patients do come in unhappy with their results and are looking for a revision surgery. This is not possible in the early stages, and patients are usually told to wait until healing has been achieved, which can vary depending on the procedure from three months to a year. For their own particular reasons, many surgeons do not perform revision surgeries on other doctors’ patients. At Southwest Plastic Surgery, I believe that we are here to help patients, and we do perform revision surgeries on other surgeons’ patients, as long as we believe that the results can be improved and that the patient’s expectations are appropriate.”
Osbourne says she is done with procedures. Fair. For the patient who is not, the dent is usually fixable. How I take on patients who had surgery elsewhere is its own 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. Fat grafting is part of every facelift he performs.
Ready to Talk?
Show me the dent. I will tell you which of the three it is. (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.
- Posted on: October 22nd 2026
- Category: Body Contouring, Commentary, Surgeon Take
A panniculectomy and a tummy tuck start with the same cut and end as different operations. One removes the apron of skin that hangs over the pubic area so a patient can move, wash and dress; the other rebuilds the whole abdomen. A surgeon on who needs which after weight loss or a GLP-1, what combines with what, and the plain truth about insurance at my practice.
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- Posted on: October 22nd 2026
- Category: Body Contouring, Commentary, Surgeon Take
Two patients, two operations, one incision. From the outside the scar looks identical. Underneath, almost nothing is the same.
The Difference
“A panniculectomy is a procedure we perform as plastic surgeons with the objective of removing excess skin, improving hygiene, and improving function in patients that have lost considerable weight or have developed a considerable abdominal pannus. An abdominal pannus is a flap of skin that hangs over the mons area, folding over the abdominal fold. In a panniculectomy, we perform an incision that is very similar to an abdominoplasty, but we are only excising the overhanging skin in the lower abdomen. It does not affect the upper abdomen, or the abdominal muscle laxity or diastasis.”
The pannus is the apron. The mons is the pubic mound it hangs over. Diastasis is the gap between the two rectus muscles. A panniculectomy touches none of the upper abdomen and none of the muscle.
“In contrast, an abdominoplasty uses the same incision, but the skin and subcutaneous fat are undermined all the way up to the xiphoid and the costal margin to expose the abdominal muscles. The abdominal muscles are often plicated to correct diastasis and abdominal wall weakness, the excess skin is excised, and the umbilicus is repositioned. In an abdominoplasty there is overall improvement of the abdomen, including the upper abdomen, the lower abdomen, the waistline, and the abdominal laxity, and it improves the overall aesthetics of the patient.”
Undermined means lifted off the muscle. The xiphoid is the bottom of the breastbone, the costal margin is the lower edge of the ribs. Plicated means sewn tighter, the internal corset.
| Panniculectomy | Tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) | |
|---|---|---|
| Incision | Low, hip to hip | Same |
| What is removed | The overhanging apron only | Excess skin from the whole lower abdomen |
| Skin lifted to the ribs | No | Yes |
| Muscle repair | No | Yes, usually |
| Belly button moved | No | Yes |
| Objective | Hygiene, function, mobility | Shape, waistline, the whole abdomen |
Who Needs Which
“A panniculectomy is going to target different objectives, like hygiene, improved function, and improved mobility. In reality, if you consider this, it is more of a medical procedure than a cosmetic procedure. Although the patient will look better and feel better and fit better into their clothing, the objectives are more functional. We opt to perform a panniculectomy when the patient’s only concern is the overhanging pannus, or if the overhanging pannus is so large that it is really interfering with daily activities. It is really not going to change the shape or contour of the rest of the abdomen. But sometimes it may be the first step in a weight loss journey, which will ultimately culminate in a tummy tuck or circumferential body lift.”
“In contrast, a tummy tuck is performed to improve the overall aesthetic contours, and it targets the entire abdomen. In my hands, it is a 360 degree operation which also targets the lower back and the waistline. It is important to note that a person with an abdominal pannus could have an abdominoplasty after a consultation and identifying that they are a candidate.”
The first step, for the patient whose BMI is still high: I wrote about that line yesterday.
After Weight Loss or a GLP-1
“Patients considering a panniculectomy have often had massive weight loss, which was achieved with GLP-1s or bariatric procedures. These patients may be candidates for a panniculectomy or a tummy tuck, and really, how we choose between one and the other is going to have to do with the patient’s objectives. If they are mainly concerned with the overhanging skin, hygiene, and fitting into certain types of clothes, a panniculectomy may be all they need. But if a patient also wants to improve the upper abdomen, the waistline, and the back, then a tummy tuck may be the best procedure.”
Objectives. Not the scale, not the scar.
What Combines With What
“I would say that because a tummy tuck or abdominoplasty has a cosmetic objective, it is more likely to be combined with other procedures, including liposuction, fat transfer, chest or breast procedures, even thigh and arm work. When we perform a panniculectomy, it is mostly to improve function and hygiene, so a panniculectomy is most often performed alone, by itself.”
“Depending on the patient’s current BMI, a panniculectomy sometimes is combined with a mons lift or even a chest or breast reduction. The advantages of combining procedures is that there is just one anesthesia, one recovery, and oftentimes the cost of the procedures is less than if they were performed separately.”
Insurance, Honestly
“We do not work with insurance companies at the moment. Although panniculectomies can be covered through insurance if the patient meets certain qualifications, this is often that the pannus hangs over the mons, that there are recurrent infections or intertrigo in the abdominal fold, and that it has not responded to medical treatment.”
Intertrigo is the rash that lives in a skin fold. Those are the questions to ask your own carrier; I cannot answer them for you.
“We can perform a panniculectomy without insurance coverage through financing or other forms of payment. And if a patient wishes to have this procedure done by a physician that works with their insurance company, we would be more than happy to recommend someone.”
The longer version of why a cosmetic practice stays out of insurance is in my diastasis recti insurance gap read. Fees are posted at agulloplasticsurgery.com/fees, and the lipo and tummy tuck cost post walks through them. The surgical version of this post is on agulloplasticsurgery.com; the recovery-side 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?
Tell me your objective. I will tell you which operation it is. (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.
