Recent posts by Melissa Chapman

• 2016 Facelifts Are Nothing Like Your Mother’s Facelift 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  As a sophomore in high school, (way back in the late 1980s,) I will never forget what it was like to witness a friend’s mother’s transformation post-facelift. Her mother, (who I will refer to as “Julie”) had just gone through a divorce and I remember her telling her daughter and me that she just felt like she needed to be refreshed. At the time I thought, why not just go to the cosmetics counter at the mall and get a mini makeover- or go to the salon and get a new haircut and color? 

• What really happens when you get Botox  

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  I have tried as hard as I possibly can to stop myself from frowning, screaming and getting mad at my kids and my husband. Why you ask? Is it because I am trying to be more grounded and Zen about life? Oh hell to the no. It’s because I am in a mad race against father time to keep the lines on my forehead from getting increasingly more furrowed and deep. I figure if I frown as little as possible, stay out of the sun and basically keep my face as expressionless as can be, it will go a long way in staving off those wrinkles. 

• The Latest in Tattoo Removal Techniques: Because No One Should be Branded with Their Tramp Stamp for Eternity, (unless they want to be) 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  I subscribe to a certain theory in regards to the monumental decision to brand oneself with a tattoo. Namely, before one gets a tattoo they should imagine themselves looking at that tattoo in twenty years, or, at the very least, after the tequila wears off. Case-in-point: I’ll never forget a guy I dated who showed me his Hebrew-worded tattoo and very matter-of-factly told me that it meant “strength” when, (unbeknownst to him and because I am fluent in Hebrew,) I knew that it actually meant “cow.” This date’s misguided tattoo is a story I relay to anyone I know who is about to get inked. 

• A Tummy Tuck is Not a One-Size-Fits-All Solution  

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  After the birth of my second child who was delivered via C-section, I was left with a small but noticeable area of extra skin which, despite my best efforts to minimize, I have not been able to improve. That sweet baby boy, the one who just refused to get into position in-utero, is now 11 years old and lovingly tells me he is “so sorry that my tummy has a flap that hangs over.” I have finally come to accept the cold hard fact that without a true tummy tuck I will never be able to wear a bikini again. 

• Four Facts to Know Before Taking the Breast Augmentation Plunge 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  I think most of us women have a love/hate relationship with our breasts. While they were “technically designed” as a tool to feed our young - they have somehow morphed into a symbol of what it means to be feminine, fertile and alluring. And since our breasts then become extensions of and a barometer of our beauty and sex appeal - it is inevitable that so many of us become tortured by the appearance of our mammary glands. I’d say it is rare that you will find any woman whose breasts aren’t too small, too big or misshapen. 

• It Isn’t All About Looks - Believe it or Not, Plastic Surgery Has Physical Health Benefits! 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  I know what you are thinking. Even while writing the title of this post I was thinking the exact same thing: Our society’s long-held notion is that plastic surgery’s benefits to its patients are ultimately about helping one improve their appearance and their self-perceived imperfections, thereby enabling them to feel more secure and confident. 

• Think You Can’t Be Over 40 and Have Youthful Skin? Ulthera and Botox Say “YES YOU CAN” 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  As I recently thumbed through pictures of myself from three years ago, I noticed I was sporting a baby face coupled with a derriere one could set a table on. These old pictures reminded me of a great quote from an actress who said, "After a certain age, you have to choose between your fanny and your face," which perfectly sums up my current situation in life. At the ripe old age of 42, as a woman who has had a significant weight loss and thus no longer carts around a rear fit for a table setting, I’m feeling the veracity of this quote more than ever. 

• Is Getting Plastic Surgery to Disguise One’s Ethnicity Really a Thing in 2016? 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  Many years ago when my maternal grandmother arrived in the United States from Israel, I imagine she experienced a myriad of issues acclimating to her new surroundings and immersing herself in a culture that was quite literally a world apart from her own. I imagine this to be true due to the persistent stories handed down in our family like great folklore; about her longing from the time she was little to transform her Semitic features. And, once she was old enough, my grandmother did undergo a rhinoplasty to correct her ethnic nose into a more aesthetically pleasing Romanesque one. 

• Before you take the Facebook Facelift Plunge, Consider this Sage Advice from Dr. Michael Law 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  I cannot tell a lie, I am obsessed with sharing and documenting the minutiae of my daily life via social media, and in the same vein I enjoy consuming the minutiae of my friends’ daily lives. I feel like their photos allow me a glimpse inside their worlds and a chance to share in their best and not so best moments. And, yes, doing so enables me to indulge in my basest voyeuristic tendencies.  

• The Treatment for Spider Veins We’ve Been Waiting for! 

  • By Melissa Chapman

  

  When I was getting dressed recently, and noticed some very unsightly new additions on my thighs, it hit me fast and hard: I had become my grandmother - and was now the proud bearer of her infamous spider vein-covered legs. While I’ve never been in love with my legs, (and had resigned myself to the fact that I’d never be asked to model swimsuits,) I had never felt self-conscious about them until both I and random strangers noticed the change. My legs were quickly becoming covered in these teeny but unsightly spider veins. They had taken up residence all over the place!