Dr Dirk Lazarus | Specialist Plastic Surgeon in Cape Town

Welcome to my practice. I am Dr Dirk Lazarus, a specialist plastic surgeon based in Cape Town.  With more than 30 years of experience, my approach combines careful surgical planning with personal, attentive care, beginning with an understanding of what matters to you.

My main focus is facial rejuvenation and aesthetic breast surgery. I perform facelifts, eyelid surgery and other facial rejuvenation procedures, as well as breast augmentation, lifts, reductions and treatment of asymmetry. I also treat complex breast concerns and perform secondary surgery on women who have had prior cosmetic breast surgery. Liposuction, tummy tucks and combined procedures often called “mommy makeovers” and gender-affirming top surgery are other longstanding areas of my practice.

Beyond my private practice, I am a volunteer surgeon and educator with Operation Smile, travelling internationally to help children and adults affected by cleft lip and palate. I currently serve as President of the Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons of South Africa (APRASSA) and am a member of both the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS).

I perform surgery at Tranquillity Clinic, my own small, licensed private hospital in Cape Town. My nurses, staff and I provide a welcoming environment and personalised support throughout your care. From your first consultation through to recovery, we want you to feel informed, listened to and well cared for with a clear understanding of your options and realistic expectations of what surgery can achieve. I and my staff have a patient-centric approach and our goal is not just effective surgery, but also to make this journey/transformation as easy for you as possible. Ultimately it is about you and your need not only to have a good outcome, but to feel that you are in good hands, safe and secure with a surgeon and support team who will take the best possible care of you.

My website may feel old and clanky – sorry about that, it is not the focus of what I do – but the goal of my site has always been to be informative and educational as to how I practice plastic surgery. I don’t do website updates often, but when I do then it is because I have more information to impart. No doubt you will find some typos on my site. AI has suggested a number of improvements and perhaps one day I will get to them!

We all do things a little differently and if you see a number of plastic surgeons then you will receive a number of opinions, frequently a little different from each other. This can be confusing which is why I try to be explicit as to reasons why I do things the way I do. Everyone (including surgeons) make mistakes – we are just human, but almost invariably those errors are minor and won’t affect you, but it is important, as a surgeon, in life, to constantly learn, to tweak things better, to improve and to do the best one can with each patient.

I don’t market on RealSelf anymore, but here are some reviews:

RealSelf Patient Reviews of Dirk Lazarus, MD

Click here to access my youtube channel

Operation Smile mission, Feb 2014, on the Cavour, an Italian aircraft carrier. It docked in Cape Town and we did some cleft surgery on board. In the picture above I am giving a TV interview. Not sure why I am looking so battle weary!

A note on before and after pictures

Many plastic surgeons display large galleries of before and after pictures on their websites. Plastic surgeons in South Africa are discouraged from doing so according to our HPCSA guidelines. Patient confidentiality is important to me and my practice and therefore I have limited my site to display only a handful of before and after pictures merely to demonstrate typical patients and usual outcomes. All pictures are of my own patients and displayed with consent from the patient. A picture is worth a thousand words and the internet is a visual medium. I believe that the pictures add value and they are displayed with the intent of helping patients and prospective patients better understand a procedure. I do not email a bunch of pictures to patients making enquiries either. I will, however, show you the before and after galleries at the time of consultation. I hope this approach is understood.

Page last updated: 1 September 2026