We’ve all heard how important it is to “strengthen the core,” from assorted fitness pros, and for so many reasons beyond just looking taut. Not only does core strength promote stability and balance, but it can help protect you from lower back pain, future muscle injury, and a common condition called diastasis recti, aka diastasis or diastasis recti abdominis (DRA), which is most frequently caused by pregnancy. Here, we dive into all things diastasis recti, including how to know if you have it, the potential health risks associated with [...]

“It’s incumbent upon patients to dig a little bit deeper than the pretty veneer of places that are offering you transport to and from in limousines, and all that shellac, but don’t necessarily have the best reputation,” says Dr. Ruth Celestin, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Riverdale, Georgia. She refers her patients to surgery centers that offer overnight stays and private-duty nurses instead of recovery houses, explaining that she has yet to find one of the latter that has “such high repute that my recommendation will never come back as a problem for me.”

Also known as fat grafting, the experts we spoke with say that this is one of the most popular and effective options. While it’s often combined with other procedures—full-body liposuction, Brazilian butt lift—this type of hip augmentation is commonly done as a stand-alone procedure for patients who want to soften the lateral contour of their gluteus muscles, the so-called hip dips, says Dr. Ruth Celestin...