Putting a Cap on Anxiety
A cold, sterile room that smells of disinfectant and dental floss. Needles, drills and ratchets adorning a creaky tray. A dentist’s head, silhouetted ominously against the harsh, incandescent glow of overhead florescent bulbs. A patient’s white knuckles gripping the arms of a plastic-coated chair. Read more

Saving Smiles
In a culture where plastic makes perfect, to cynics the word “cosmetic” conjures images of procedures representing one more costly indulgence, falling somewhere between “lip injections” and “eyebrow lifts.” Read more

Cutting Edge
This inherent desire in people for youthfulness has fueled the field of cosmetic surgery, which has continued to grow at a dizzying rate. According to statistics released by The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), consumers spent $12.2 billion on plastic surgery in 2006 to pay for 11.5 million procedures. Read more

It's a Spas World After All
Day spas, those havens from the stresses of modernity, are no longer the preserve of the pampered few. Yet with new spas opening weekly in Northern Virginia, it is easy to become overwhelmed by selection. So we waded through the spas, non-spas and wannabe spas to find places where we would send our girlfriends, our mothers, our daughters and even the guys in our lives—Who knew research could be so relaxing? Read more

A Frown Turned Upside Down
On the corner of Dr. Csaba Magassy's desk in his McLean office stands a miniature statue of Venus. The plump, fleshy icon, Roman goddess of beauty and love, is an anachronism in today's Barbie-doll slim ideal of proportion and beauty. For Ann Boyer, neither the mythological nor societal vision of beauty makes any difference to her. "I want to be who I am," she says. Read more