DR. WORLDWIDE GETS SOCIAL
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.WWFrank 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.


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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A magazine asked the oldest question in recovery and had me check the answer. Ice first, because it narrows the vessels. Heat later, because it opens them and brings the repair. Twenty minutes a session, every hour for three days, then switch. And the rule I say in every consult: if you cannot hold the pack comfortably in your hand, it does not go on your skin, especially skin that is numb.
Woman’s World, September 29. Ice or heat? I reviewed the piece. Yahoo Health and AOL picked it up the same day.
They were writing for sore muscles. I answer for people I just operated on. Same physiology. Tighter rules.
“The first couple of days after surgery, ice is better, because it vasoconstricts, which decreases swelling and inflammation.”
“Usually we don’t actually use ice per se. We have little ice packs that have a gel inside, which you put in the freezer. They’re covered with silicone, and this protects the skin so that it doesn’t suffer direct contact with the ice. We like to use it as often as possible, every hour, for the first three days.”
“After the third day, heat will actually vasodilate and help get more blood flow and oxygen to the area, as well as all the growth factors and repair cells that we need.”
“The patient should be able to hold the ice pad or heat pad in their hands comfortably. If it’s too hot or too cold to hold comfortably, it can burn the skin. You should be very careful, especially in areas that are numb, so that you don’t injure yourself.”
Numb skin sits under a pack that is burning it and never says a word. Your hand does.
The one line of mine the magazine printed that I will repeat: “Longer than 20 minutes does not help. The skin can be injured, and the body starts pushing blood back into the area to warm it, which undoes the benefit.”
“But physically, on day two, day three, you’re gonna feel fine. There’s no pain. It’s just the feeling of swelling. But physically, you feel like you can do anything.”
Feel fine, skip the pack, overdo it, swell. Keep the cadence through day three. Then heat, then massage. Surgery somewhere else and nobody told you? Now someone has. The practice sheet is on swplasticsurgery.com, the version by procedure on agulloplasticsurgery.com.
I am certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery, trained in plastic surgery at the Mayo Clinic, and teach as Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Castle Connolly has listed me as a Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years, 2014 through 2026.
Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com/appointments. #StayBeautiful
Find me at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.

Cardi B told X Spaces she wants her breasts done again and is “very scared” to do it, and that her kids are the reason they changed. She is describing the most common breast revision consultation I have. Here is what pregnancy and breastfeeding do to an augmented breast, why bottoming out, sagging and rippling show up afterward, what a revision fixes, and my answer to the woman who wants implants before she is done having children.
Cardi B got on X Spaces last week and said the thing half my revision patients say in the exam room. “I’m not gonna lie, I want to get my titties done already.” Then: “For some reason, I’m very scared of getting my boobs done. I don’t know why.” Eighteen years with the implants, four kids since. “I’ve had these titties for a really long time and they’re sagging really bad.” Billboard ran the whole thing.
I will not diagnose a woman from an audio clip. I do not have to. What she described is the breast revision consult I have more than any other.
Here is what happens, in my words from the exam room.
“It really depends on what happens during pregnancy. If there are big changes in weight, the breasts also get much larger and the skin and tissues get stretched.”
“Once pregnancy and breastfeeding are done, the breast shrinks back in size and the skin somewhat retracts, but not always to the same extent as pre-pregnancy. That is where bottoming out, ptosis or sagginess, and rippling can happen. Those are the reasons for a revision.”
The implant did not change. Everything over it did.
“The level of droopiness determines whether the patient will require a lift or not. If the nipple areola complex is below the inframammary fold, then a full lift, anchor type incision, will be necessary. If the nipple areola complex is at or slightly above the inframammary fold, I will often recommend a circumareolar lift or donut lift. The ideal sternal notch to nipple areola distance is anywhere from 19 to 22 centimeters. Any number greater than that should consider some type of lift. If the lift is not performed during the augmentation and there is considerable sagging, then the implants will appear to be higher up, even though they are in the right place, and the nipple areola and breast tissue will hang over it.”
That last sentence is the one to reread. The implant is where I put it. The breast slid off it. Patients call that sagging; I call it the lift that was skipped, or the lift that pregnancy wrote into the plan later.
| Nipple position | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Above the fold, sternal notch to nipple 19 to 22 cm | Swap or reposition the implant, donut lift at most |
| At or slightly above the fold | Donut (circumareolar) lift |
| Below the fold, or the distance runs past 22 cm | Full lift, anchor pattern |
“So when a patient comes in for a lift, usually they do need a full breast lift, unless the nipple areolar complex is above the inframammary fold, in which case we can offer a circumareolar, or donut, lift. Once we’ve identified that a lift is necessary, we ask the patient whether they want to stay the same size or slightly smaller, or if they want to be larger. Of course, if they want to be larger, we will need an implant or a fat transfer to the breast.”
“I generally don’t recommend a lollipop type lift because it has a high incidence of bottoming out. Nevertheless, it is a good procedure on very select patients.”
The longer version is in what nobody tells you about a breast lift.
“In a breast augmentation, the mesh helps support the weight of the implants and creates a tight capsule, to prevent lateral and inferior displacement.”
“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.”
“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.”
And on the rippling that shows up after the kids, when the tissue over the implant has thinned:
“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.”
“One of the ways to make this better is to put some fat here, to make it thicker so that there is more between the skin and the actual implant. I inject it under the skin so it pumps that layer up and it gets thicker.”
The rest of the rippling story is in breast implant rippling.
“I think a lot of patients are afraid of this surgery because they feel like they’re going to need the full anchor type incision. By offering the circumareolar, or donut, lift for patients whose nipple and areola are above the inframammary fold, this can be a game changer. Also, expectations need to be handled. A lot of patients having a breast lift with implants are expecting a lot of upper fullness and a very high implant placement, which is just not possible at the same time as a breast lift. A breast lift will always give a perkier look, more upper fullness, and cleavage, but it’s going to have usually a natural slope on top.”
Cardi B has had two operations on her buttocks to remove injected polymers and says the breasts are the one thing that scare her. I get it. The first operation is the one you remember. A revision after kids is not a bigger operation than the first one. It is a more precise one, because I already know what your tissue did under load.
“If a patient just wants to have a breast lift, then they have to understand that they may be the same size or slightly smaller, maybe half a cup size to a cup size, because we are removing that excess skin. The breast will be perkier, but it’ll also be tighter, and it may appear smaller. Regardless of the combination of procedures we perform, I do recommend using an internal bra with mesh support, with GalaFLEX or DuraSorb, to give us that support of the breast weight, so that we’re not just relying on skin, which has lost all its elastin and is not reliable long term.”
This is the question under Cardi B’s story.
“Patient who wants augmentation before she is done having kids: go ahead. There are still going to be changes in the breast with or without implants. Surgery may be necessary after pregnancy even without implants, for a more cosmetic and aesthetic look.”
Pregnancy changes every breast, augmented or not. Waiting buys you nothing but years without the result you wanted. For the first-timer who wants the light version, the numbers are in the breast lift beat the implant at ISAPS. The surgical version of this post, with the options side by side, is on agulloplasticsurgery.com; the consultation version is on the Southwest Plastic Surgery post.
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 has been a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years, 2014 through 2026. Breast revision, including fold repair with internal mesh support, lift with implant exchange and fat grafting over thin tissue, is a core part of his practice in El Paso.
If your implants changed after the kids, bring the old photos and come in. The exam takes ten minutes and the plan is usually simpler than you fear.
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.