WHO WE ARE

Dr. Gronka has extensive surgical training and over 27 years of experience practicing plastic and reconstructive surgery. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. He completed five years of General Surgery training at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami, Florida, where he was given the status of Chief Resident in his final year. He did his plastic surgery residency at Ohio State University, where he trained under world-renowned plastic surgeons.

Dr. Gronka has been in practice in Atlanta since 1992. For the past three years, Lifestyles Magazine has named him one of the “Top Docs of the Southern Arc,” a distinction voted by his peers. He attributes this award to his philosophy on the practice of plastic surgery and his treatment of individual patients: “Each patient must be evaluated as an individual, and a unique plastic surgery approach must be tailored to that person’s needs.” Dr. Gronka takes particular care to design comprehensive treatment plans that are personalized for each patient and that also look proportionate to one’s body type.

Dr. Gronka is expertly trained in all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery. His interests in plastic surgery include cosmetic improvement of the breast, face, and body including the abdomen, hips, and thighs. He is also an expert in reconstructive surgery of the breast and body. The surgeries he frequently performs are breast augmentation and reduction, liposuction, abdominoplasty, facelift, eyelid surgery, and breast reconstruction following mastectomy. Many of Dr. Gronka’s patients praise him as being thoroughly knowledgeable about his work and communicating in a way that is kind and empathetic. He is known for exceeding his patients’ expectations and being as resourceful as possible when performing surgery. As a result of training completed in 2013, Dr. Gronka is now certified to use Mentor MemoryShape Breast Implants, which are gel implants that combine both shape and feel to provide natural-looking and long-lasting results in patients. Mentor is the world leader in breast aesthetics, and their new MemoryShape implant has a high satisfaction rate and a proven safety record.

Dr. Gronka performs most of his cosmetic surgery at the Advanced Aesthetics Plastic Surgery Center. He also has privileges at Piedmont Fayette Hospital. Like Dr. Dr. Joseph Raniere, he is an active member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).Dr. Gronka is married and has two children. When he is not working, he spends most of his time with his family or playing the drums in his band “Gravity” along with Dr. Raniere. His personal interests include golf, music, and cooking. He enjoys traveling all over the world to enjoy these pastimes.

Dr. Joseph Raniere is originally from the Northeast, specifically the Jersey Shore. He earned his medical degree from Rutgers Medical School in 1993, where he achieved membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society.  After graduating in the top 10 percent of his medical school class, he completed five years of General Surgery training at Harvard University’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He is Board Certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and a long-time member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. Dr. Raniere has also completed two additional years of specialty training in Plastic Surgery at the prestigious University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, considered the number one plastic surgery training program in the United States.

Dr. Raniere is expertly trained in all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery, with special interests in abdominoplasty, body contouring, liposuction, body lifts, and facial cosmetic surgery, including rhinoplasty, blepharoplasty, and facelifts. Most recently, Dr. Raniere has added energy-based technology into his practice, namely BodyTite, FaceTite, and AccuTite to offer less invasive means of tightening skin as an adjunct to traditional liposuction procedures.  He is also the inventor of the patented Quick Guard™ device used in breast reconstruction. He has utilized his artistic vision to develop the “infinity umbilicoplasty,” used to create a natural-appearing belly button in abdominoplasty surgery, his true passion. Dr. Raniere has additional interests in cosmetic breast surgery, including breast augmentation, reduction, and mastopexy (breast lift), as well as breast reconstruction following mastectomy.  A subset of Dr. Raniere’s practice includes facial reconstruction after skin cancer removal (Mohs Surgery). He has published several scientific articles on various topics in plastic surgery, including rhinoplasty, liposuction, breast augmentation, and abdominoplasty (tummy tuck).

Dr. Raniere has privileges at Piedmont Fayette Hospital, where he has served as Chief of Plastic Surgery for nearly 20 years, as well as Piedmont Newnan Hospital and Piedmont Henry Hospital.

Dr. Raniere takes great pride in providing the highest quality personalized care to address each individual’s needs carefully. “My personal practice philosophy is to give my patients my undivided attention, listen to their specific needs and goals, and then perform surgically to the best of my ability to achieve a natural result.”

Dr. Raniere resides in Peachtree City, and his favorite pastimes include spending time with his wife and two daughters at the lake, traveling, music, and fishing/boating. He can also be found some weekends around town playing guitar for a local 80’s cover band, “Gravity.”

“Mel” was born in the very small town of Wedowee, Alabama where he grew up and went to high school. From there he earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Auburn University attending partially on a student athlete scholarship. He attended medical school at The University of Alabama School of Medicine. While there he was awarded the Galbraith Award for excellence in surgery given to the top performer in surgery clinicals. He also was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. He then completed a residency in General Surgery at The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital System. For fellowship training in plastic surgery, he was lucky enough to be chosen to attend Tulane University in New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina, he was displaced to Houston Texas where he continued his plastic surgery training at Baylor University and M.D. Anderson. Dr. Stewart practiced in Alabama for 6 years prior to joining Advanced Aesthetics. Dr. Stewart is Board Certified in both Plastic Surgery and General Surgery.

Dr. Stewart enjoys all aspects of plastic surgery. His primary interests are eyelid and brow rejuvenation and rhinoplasty. In addition to traditional facelift surgery techniques, he is also a proponent of less/minimally invasive techniques including short scar surgery, Botox, fillers, laser resurfacing and chemical peels. In addition, he focuses on breast enhancement and augmentations well as body contouring such as tummy tucks and liposuction.

A desire to help women who have undergone the disfigurement of mastectomy was one of the main factors for his choice to pursue plastic surgery. Having extensive training in breast reconstruction, he is able to be a part of a patients “breast team” when she receives a diagnosis of breast cancer. This of ten involves implants with and without the use of the patients own tissues. In addition, he performs breast reduction surgery, hand surgery, and repairs defects after skin cancers are removed from the face.

“My practice is to do my best to understand what the patients desires and then try to coordinate a realistic plan for their surgery. In this way we can work as a team to achieve the patients goals.”

When not caring for patients, Dr. Stewart enjoys spending time with his wife and their three teenage boys. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. Stewart enjoys running, surfing, and farming.  His band, Day Jobs, can be seen playing around the area from time to time. He plays guitar, bass, and keyboards as well as handling some of the vocal duties. He lives in LaGrange where his wife practices surgery.

While he has received broad training in aesthetic surgery and general reconstruction, he has a specific focus on breast surgery (breast reconstruction, reductions, augmentation). He has helped many patients with revisions to correct poor results from prior cosmetic and reconstructive breast surgeries. He also has experience in fat grafting of the breast, both for augmentation, after implant removal, and after mastectomy. He is highly skilled at body contouring. He has worked with many patients who have developed large amounts of redundant skin after achieving massive weight loss. In addition to Brachioplasty (arm lifts), thighplasty (thigh lift), and abdominoplasty, he also has extensive experience with body lifts allowing improvement of the front and back in one procedure. He also is skilled in surgical and non-surgical facial rejuvenation.

His research interests include surgical innovation and improving clinical outcomes. He has authored nearly 15 manuscripts, has reviewed for many premier journals in the field of plastic surgery, and has lectured at local, regional, and national meetings. For his work, he has been awarded prestigious awards and grants.

His extensive training, engineering background, and research experience have helped him develop the ability to provide comprehensive clinical and surgical care for his patients. He strives to bring compassion and warmth to each patient encounter. Dr. Akinbiyi is dedicated to patient care and enjoys working with patients to develop individualized care plans that focus on helping them achieve their goals.

Dr. Akinbiyi lives with his wife and two sons. They enjoy gardening, cooking, and traveling together.