I like to think that every issue has its own personality and theme, although that’s not always premeditated. This issue started out revolving around health, fitness, wellness and spas, and it still touches on a few of those subjects. Take, for example, the piece on the best medical spas—i.e., serious places that don’t just lather and pamper—in Europe. But this issue evolved into something much more different, something more random and tougher to categorize. It’s about: 1) the sense of PLACE, as the cover promises; 2) SPACE, as in wide open and lots of it, like Playa Vik, the impossibly beautiful and modern resort in coastal Uruguay, as well as Galicia, Spain, our cover story by Paris-based reporter Christopher Bagley; and it’s also about 3) FACE. That’s right, as in “saving face” per our nine-page package on THE STATE OF PLASTIC SURGERY 2012. Strictly speaking, those nine pages cover a lot more than the face and, without condoning or embracing, they look at various parts of the anatomy and what’s now available in terms of repair work. All this was masterminded by managing editor Deborah Frank and reporter Aimee Lee Ball, who gives a pretty good overview of what has become a $10.7 billion–a–year business. Frequent contributor Dr. Gerald Imber, one of the leading plastic surgeons in America, was at the top of our list of more than 30 experts, doctors and professionals that Frank and Ball commandeered to bring us specific, cogent and valuable advice on refreshing, reinvigorating and restoring ourselves. But THE STATE OF PLASTIC SURGERY 2012 really does belong to Frank, who, in addition to running budgets and schedules and hiring at the magazine, also oversees our beauty page and new PERSONAL BEST section, which houses THE STATE OF PLASTIC SURGERY 2012 in this issue. She’s put together an amazing overview of what it’s like out there, and even if you have no pressing need or interest, I think you’ll agree it makes for an interesting, sometimes provocative, read on how we live now.
From Our Archive
This story was published before Summer 2021, when we launched our new digital experience.
Editor’s Letter | January/February 2012
MOST READ WELLNESS
