Dr. Joseph F. Capella

Joseph F. Capella, MD, founded Capella Plastic Surgery in Ramsey, New Jersey, and has practiced there since 2000. He also holds leadership posts at two hospitals: he heads the post-bariatric surgery division at Hackensack University Medical Center and leads the plastic surgery department at Pascack Valley Medical Center. He serves on the Post-Bariatric Task Force of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and is Medical Director of an AAAASF-accredited office-based surgical facility. His credentials include MD and FACS, and he is board certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery.

He completed a general surgery residency, including a chief residency, at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University, followed by a plastic surgery fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. His focus is body contouring after major weight loss, including weight loss from GLP-1 medications. His surgical work covers lower and upper body lifts, arm lifts, tummy tucks, breast reshaping and facial volume restoration. He has more than 25 years of experience and has cared for more than 25,000 patients. He has personally performed over 15,000 body contouring procedures, including over 3,000 body lifts, over 3,000 tummy tucks, over 3,000 mommy makeovers, 2,000 or more arm lifts, 1,000 or more inner thigh lifts, and over 1,000 cosmetic breast implant placements.

He developed the vertical medial thigh lift, which is described in publications from 2013, 2014 and 2016. He co-authored Body Contouring after Weight Loss (2006), the first book on the topic written for patients. His published work includes a 2006 account of 200 consecutive body lift cases. The journal Obesity Surgery gave him a Best Paper award for 1993. He taught for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, including post-bariatric body contouring courses from 2004 to 2014, and has taught techniques to surgeons in North America, South America and Europe. He has appeared on ABC's 20/20, The View, ELLE and CNBC, and a 2007 instructional DVD on lower body lift from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine includes him. He is a top 10 plastic surgeon in New Jersey (2017) and was listed by Best Doctors in America (2007-2010, 2015-2016). He works with his collaborator, bariatric surgeon Dr. Rafael Capella.