BOARD-CERTIFIED PLASTIC SURGEON · FORT LAUDERDALEA Black Female Plastic Surgeon, Board-Certified
I am Dr. Essie Yates, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Fort Lauderdale, and I am one of very few Black women in this country who do what I do.
You have the means to choose any surgeon you like, and you have spent years being told, in rooms where you were often the only one, that the standard is something other than you. You are not looking for someone who will make an exception for you. You are looking for someone whose starting point is already you: your skin, your features, your proportions, the way your family ages, the way a scar behaves on you and not on the woman in the brochure.
That is a different conversation, and it begins differently. I do not need you to explain what you mean when you say you want to look rested and not changed. I grew up with that reference point. I trained to the highest standard in the field, and I bring both into the room with you.
ABPS
Board-certified, American Board of Plastic Surgery300+
Cosmetic breast surgeries each year2018
Dr. Yates founded Yates Institute of Plastic SurgeryAAAASF
Accredited operating suite on siteYOUR SKIN, YOUR FEATURESWhy skin tone changes the surgery, not just the surgeon.
Melanin-rich skin heals differently, and a surgeon who has not operated on it at volume will learn that on you. Three things matter most.
Scars
Darker skin is more prone to keloids and to raised, hypertrophic scars. That changes where I place an incision, how much tension I allow across it, how I close it, and what I ask you to do in the months afterwards. A facelift incision that disappears into the hairline on one woman can sit visibly on another, and I plan for that before the first cut.
Pigment
Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation is the most common complaint I hear from women who had surgery elsewhere. It is largely preventable with the right preparation, the right energy settings on any laser or device, and a skincare plan that starts before surgery, not after a problem appears.
Proportion
Textbook ratios for the face, the breast and the body were drawn from a narrow population. I do not operate to a template. I operate to you.
THE FACELooking like yourself, a decade on.
My facial work is the most careful work I do, and most of it is for women who have reached a point in their careers where their face is read before they speak. The brief is always the same. Rested, not changed. Nobody should be able to tell, least of all the people who see you every day.
For Black women the stakes of getting that wrong are higher. A facelift, eyelid surgery or brow lift done to a Eurocentric template produces a face that is technically younger and recognisably not yours. I preserve the features that make you you: the fullness of your lips, the proportions of your cheeks and jaw. I correct what has moved, not what was always there.
I also plan every incision with your scarring and pigment in mind, and I use injectables and skin treatments alongside surgery when a blended plan gives a quieter result than either alone.
BREAST AND BODYWhat I do most.
I perform more than 300 breast surgeries a year: augmentation, lift, reduction and implant removal. I am a consultant and Key Opinion Leader for Mentor, which means implant companies ask me how their products should be used.
That volume matters to you for one reason. Decisions about incision placement, implant position and how a breast will sit on your frame in ten years are judgment calls, and judgment is built on repetition.
My body work is mostly for women whose shape changed after children, after significant weight loss, or after the weight-loss medications that have changed what a tummy tuck now needs to do. I have performed more than 150 mommy makeovers. My aim in every case is a body that looks like it was always yours, with scars planned for where you will and will not see them.
BY THE NUMBERSHow few of us there are.
Black Americans are about 13% of the population and fewer than 4% of plastic surgeons, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Black women are a fraction of that fraction. Most cities in this country do not have one.
I say this not as a grievance but as a practical matter. It explains why women fly to see me from Atlanta, Washington, Houston, New York and Chicago, and why they often tell me this is the first consultation where they did not have to explain their own face.
It also explains why I take the responsibility seriously. When a woman has looked for years for a surgeon who starts from her, she should not have to travel far from what she needs when she arrives.
CREDENTIALSWhat you are entitled to check.
You will vet me the way you vet anyone you hire for something that matters. Here is what you will find.
Board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery; active member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and The Aesthetic Society
Trained at Imperial College London, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and the University of Chicago, where I completed my plastic surgery residency
Faculty at Nova Southeastern University; clinical instructor at Cleveland Clinic Florida
More than 400 procedures a year in my own AAAASF-accredited operating room, with an all-female surgical team, in a 6,900-square-foot practice I founded in 2018
One surgeon from the first conversation to the last follow-up. I do not hand you to anyone else.
My patients are executives, physicians, founders and public figures. Many are the first or only in their field. They come here because the standard of work is high and because nothing about their visit becomes anyone else’s business. You will read their words on the reviews page, and you are welcome to ask me for a conversation with a past patient who has agreed to speak.
TRAVELLING FOR SURGERYIf you are coming from out of town.
Most of my patients on this page do not live in South Florida. The process is built for that.
01 — A virtual consultation with me
It begins with a virtual consultation with me, not a coordinator, so you know before you book a flight whether we are right for each other.
02 — Your coordinator handles the rest
My patient coordinator then handles the rest: timing around your calendar, a hotel near the practice, pre-operative testing arranged where you live, and a recovery plan written for someone who is flying home. We are five minutes from Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport.
03 — Discretion by design
Discretion is not a courtesy here; it is the design. Private scheduling is available, your images belong to you, and no one on my team discusses who has been in the practice.
QUESTIONSQuestions I am asked most.
Does a Black surgeon get a better result on Black skin?
Not automatically. What matters is experience operating on melanin-rich skin at volume and a surgeon who starts from your features rather than a textbook. A Black surgeon is more likely to have both, but ask any surgeon you consider how many patients like you they have treated and how they plan incisions for your scarring.
Will I keloid?
A history of keloids on you or in your family raises the risk and changes how I operate: incision placement, closure, tension and aftercare. It rarely rules surgery out. Tell me at the first conversation and I will show you exactly how I plan for it.
Will a facelift make me look like someone else?
It should not, and with me it will not. I reposition what has moved with age and leave what was always yours. The goal is that people who know you say you look well, and cannot say why.
Can I have everything done in one surgery?
Often, yes. Combining breast and body procedures, or a facelift with eyelid surgery, means one recovery. Whether it is right for you depends on your health, the surgical time involved and how you heal, which we decide together before anything is booked.
Do I need to come to Fort Lauderdale for the first consultation?
No. The first consultation is virtual and with me. You travel only once we have both decided to proceed, and my coordinator arranges your stay, your pre-operative testing and your recovery plan around your schedule.
How do I know you are the right surgeon for me?
You will know in the first conversation. If you leave it feeling understood rather than sold to, we are a good match. If not, I will tell you honestly, and I will suggest who else to see.
My hospital-grade facility, built and designed for discerning patients.
NEXT STEPThe next step
is yours.
Nothing is decided today. You tell my patient coordinator, in your own words, what has been on your mind. She calls you back privately to find a time for a virtual conversation with me. There is no quote before we have spoken, no package, and no pressure to book.
YOUR SURGEONEssie Yates, MD
Board-certified plastic surgeon. University of Chicago trained. Practicing in Fort Lauderdale since 2018.
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+1 954 463 5208
407 SE 24th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316Mon–Fri: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm