How Providers Are Selected

Elite Aesthetics Guide doesn't use a secret cabal of nominators or a pay-to-play model. The selection process is mechanical, repeatable, and transparent. Here is exactly how a provider gets onto the guide and how the recognition tiers work above that.

1. Entry: anyone can request scoring

Aesthetic providers (injectors, plastic surgeons, estheticians, laser specialists) can create a free account and request to be evaluated. Self-request is the primary entry path. We also bring in providers found through public sources, peer recommendations, and editorial discovery, but no provider is excluded for “not knowing the right people”. If you want in, you ask. The account is free.

2. WTDSC: a seven-category composite score

Every provider is scored 0 to 10 in seven weighted categories. The weights add up to 100%. Heavier categories carry more of the composite.

• 20%Licensing & Credentials. Active license status, license type, jurisdiction, regulatory standing.
• 20%Education & Technical Background. Degrees, residencies, fellowships, formal training appropriate to the discipline.
• 15%Advanced Training & Designations. Board certifications, advanced device certifications, post-graduate specializations.
• 15%Clean Professional Record. Absence of substantiated disciplinary actions, malpractice patterns, or formal sanctions.
• 15%Popularity & Market Presence. Public review volume and quality, professional visibility, patient demand signals.
• 10%Longevity & Business Sustainability. Years in practice, practice stability, continuity of care indicators.
• 5%Peer & Industry Recognition. Speaking engagements, publications, peer references, industry leadership roles.

The seven scores combine into a single weighted composite, also out of 10. That number is what determines list inclusion.

3. State lists: top scorers in each state-and-category bucket

Within each US state and each category (Injectors, Plastic Surgeons, Estheticians, Laser Specialists), every scored provider is ranked by their composite. Up to ten of the highest scorers earn the “Elite Listed” designation for that state and category. There's no quota negotiation, no editorial override on the list itself. The math runs against the providers we've scored, and the top of each bucket is the list.

Providers can also be tagged as “Rising Star” in their state when they're early-career but already trending high on the composite. Both designations are merit-based and tied to the composite score.

4. National recognition: peer voting among the elite

Once a provider is on a state list, they become eligible for national-level recognition. National rankings are not based on the composite alone. They are decided by peer voting among elite-listed providers. Peer voting is the only place in our process where direct nomination matters, and it only happens at the national tier:

• National Top 100. The hundred providers in each category who receive the most peer votes from their elite-listed peers across all states.
• National Top 10. The top ten of those, in each category, the same year.
• Best in the Nation. The single highest-voted provider in each category for that year.
• Hall of Excellence. Providers who have previously won Best in the Nation. The honor is permanent and reissued each year on the anniversary.

Patients and the public do not vote in national rankings. Only currently elite-listed providers can vote, each can only vote within their own category, and providers cannot vote for themselves.

5. EAG Verified: a separate, factual credential check

EAG Verified is a separate program from the rankings. A provider uploads their license and we cross-check the name and number against the issuing state board (where the registry permits). When confirmed, a gold checkmark appears next to their name on their public surfaces, with the source link and verification date attached. It is a fact statement, not an endorsement, and it never affects the WTDSC composite score. Read the full methodology.

No pay-to-play

Providers cannot pay to be scored higher, ranked higher, listed, or kept on the list. Provider accounts are free. EAG Verified is free. Optional upgrades (Enhanced Profile, TLDR website, magazine feature) are paid presentation-layer products only. They buy more space on the provider's own profile, never their position on a list.