As a beauty editor, I pretty much have the world of products and procedures at my fingertips. I regularly test new launches from makeup to skincare, but have always steered clear of receiving any actual aesthetic treatment. All of that changed when I discovered a surgery I had honestly never heard of before: dimpleplasty, a minimally-invasive surgery that creates dimples. 

 “OK, how?” I asked myself as I went down a rabbit hole of research. What was this sorcery that could bestow dimples upon the previously smooth-cheeked? I decided there was no better time than during a global pandemic to find out.

Stories and statistics assert that injectables and plastic surgery have proliferated during the pandemic. Call it the Zoom Effect: people have never before spent so much time staring at themselves, and in some cases, fixating on perceived flaws. Although it might play a slight factor, I can assure you that my own mounting interest in the surgery table isn’t really correlated with Zoom, or even the lockdown.

In fact, my predilection with dimples dates all the way back to 2006. When the movie ATL premiered in theaters, a cultural reset ensued. Actress Lauren London and her character New New became staples in entertainment. Her dimples were just so deep—and way too cute. Consequently, many women wanted to be “New New rocking the new, new shit”— her film character’s motto. Simultaneously, due to the sudden pervasiveness of reality television, I saw women with tattoos and piercings in unique areas. I felt drawn to the look and envisioned myself growing up to have sleeve tattoos, face tats and cheek piercings. I wanted to give a bad-ass/slightly rocker tease.

Source: Instagram

However, as time progressed and life dawned on me, I grew past that yearning. I just couldn’t see myself wanting to walk around with ball piercings in my cheek in order to get a dimple (which would also impart a little hole mark on the cheek that I don’t want on my face). With dimpleplasty, sutures are stitched inside of the mouth, leaving no external scars and producing a natural-looking dimple after the healing process is completed.  

“There are different layers of tissue in your face,” explains Dr. David Shafer, MD, FACS, the doctor who I called up to explain this seemingly unknown method. “Some of those layers are interconnected in some people more than others. People with dimples have more connections between those layers,” he elaborated.

I needed more of an explanation.

“Think of it like a quilt that has buttons along it or a tufted couch,” Dr. Shafer maintained in visual explanatory form when we met in his Fifth Avenue office.“With dimples, you have a connection between all of those layers. With dimpleplasty, all you’re doing is taking the area you want more connected and you’re artificially doing that with dissolvable stitches. You are not removing anything. You’re just cutting through the layers and then just sewing them together.” 

The biggest allure about this surgery— because let’s be clear, it is a surgery—was the fact that it doesn’t fully go through my cheek. There is nothing being put in my body, and there will be no scarring or holes left in my face. There is also a high chance that your body will heal and revert since it’s an act of trauma being caused to the muscle in your cheek— it’s not unlikely that your body may just heal it. 

“The surgery is short, about 15 minutes” said Shafer, which sealed the deal with me because let’s face it—the idea of undergoing surgery is scary. During the pandemic, the protocol also requires all clients receive an in-office Covid-19 test within four to five days of their scheduled procedure. I went for mine on a Monday and scheduled the procedure for Thursday. I was beyond ready to finally have dimples. 

Walking into the office on procedure day was a bit surreal. I removed my shoes and donned the equivalent of hospital socks. They handed me an operating gown that I wasn’t expecting. It frightened me.

Noel Cymone Walker.

Once we took the “before” pictures, removed all of my jewelry, and marked areas of my cheek, the nurse drew back a curtain, and a fully certified surgery operating room was in front of me. I was shooketh! I guess I was thinking it would be done on a surgical chair, but no baby. This was a whole set. It was like walking into a scene from Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” video and my emotions began to run rampant. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

After numbing my cheek, tools went flying back and forth between the doctor and the nurse right in front of my eyes. I laid with my mouth open not feeling a thing. At some point, there were so many tools being passed that I thought it better for me to shut my eyes. They were giving me anxiety. From one cheek to the other, I would guess I was in the operating room for about 40 minutes in total. As they finished and I rose to a face mirror, I was so damn shocked that I just had surgery. I could visibly see the stitching on both cheeks. There were two stitch divots on each side of my cheek that legit looked like a set of baste stitches. I immediately expressed my concern to Dr. Shafer, and he assured me they would disappear within the month of healing. A MONTH!

Throughout the day as the local numbing wore off, my mouth did hurt and it swelled a bit. I took the prescriptions that were waiting for me and I pretty much tapped out. I needed to rest. 

 Over the next couple of days, I intensely stared at the stitch in my face. By the fourth day, the stitch did start to loosen up and began to look like it would disappear. The dimples no longer looked like two separate baste stitches on each side, but one indentation. When I went back to Dr. Shafer a week later for my follow-up I was feeling so much better about the trajectory. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

As of one and half weeks post-surgery, I love the dimples. I do have some scarring and hyperpigmentation where the stitch was on the right side of my cheek. But ultimately, I’m very happy with the results. And I look forward to my three-month follow-up: will the dimples last, or will I have to get them redone? Only time will tell.

As a beauty editor, I pretty much have the world of products and procedures at my fingertips. I regularly test new launches from makeup to skincare, but have always steered clear of receiving any actual aesthetic treatment. All of that changed when I discovered a surgery I had honestly never heard of before: dimpleplasty, a minimally-invasive surgery that creates dimples. 

 “OK, how?” I asked myself as I went down a rabbit hole of research. What was this sorcery that could bestow dimples upon the previously smooth-cheeked? I decided there was no better time than during a global pandemic to find out.

Stories and statistics assert that injectables and plastic surgery have proliferated during the pandemic. Call it the Zoom Effect: people have never before spent so much time staring at themselves, and in some cases, fixating on perceived flaws. Although it might play a slight factor, I can assure you that my own mounting interest in the surgery table isn’t really correlated with Zoom, or even the lockdown.

In fact, my predilection with dimples dates all the way back to 2006. When the movie ATL premiered in theaters, a cultural reset ensued. Actress Lauren London and her character New New became staples in entertainment. Her dimples were just so deep—and way too cute. Consequently, many women wanted to be “New New rocking the new, new shit”— her film character’s motto. Simultaneously, due to the sudden pervasiveness of reality television, I saw women with tattoos and piercings in unique areas. I felt drawn to the look and envisioned myself growing up to have sleeve tattoos, face tats and cheek piercings. I wanted to give a bad-ass/slightly rocker tease.

Source: Instagram

However, as time progressed and life dawned on me, I grew past that yearning. I just couldn’t see myself wanting to walk around with ball piercings in my cheek in order to get a dimple (which would also impart a little hole mark on the cheek that I don’t want on my face). With dimpleplasty, sutures are stitched inside of the mouth, leaving no external scars and producing a natural-looking dimple after the healing process is completed.  

“There are different layers of tissue in your face,” explains Dr. David Shafer, MD, FACS, the doctor who I called up to explain this seemingly unknown method. “Some of those layers are interconnected in some people more than others. People with dimples have more connections between those layers,” he elaborated.

I needed more of an explanation.

“Think of it like a quilt that has buttons along it or a tufted couch,” Dr. Shafer maintained in visual explanatory form when we met in his Fifth Avenue office.“With dimples, you have a connection between all of those layers. With dimpleplasty, all you’re doing is taking the area you want more connected and you’re artificially doing that with dissolvable stitches. You are not removing anything. You’re just cutting through the layers and then just sewing them together.” 

The biggest allure about this surgery— because let’s be clear, it is a surgery—was the fact that it doesn’t fully go through my cheek. There is nothing being put in my body, and there will be no scarring or holes left in my face. There is also a high chance that your body will heal and revert since it’s an act of trauma being caused to the muscle in your cheek— it’s not unlikely that your body may just heal it. 

“The surgery is short, about 15 minutes” said Shafer, which sealed the deal with me because let’s face it—the idea of undergoing surgery is scary. During the pandemic, the protocol also requires all clients receive an in-office Covid-19 test within four to five days of their scheduled procedure. I went for mine on a Monday and scheduled the procedure for Thursday. I was beyond ready to finally have dimples. 

Walking into the office on procedure day was a bit surreal. I removed my shoes and donned the equivalent of hospital socks. They handed me an operating gown that I wasn’t expecting. It frightened me.

Noel Cymone Walker.

Once we took the “before” pictures, removed all of my jewelry, and marked areas of my cheek, the nurse drew back a curtain, and a fully certified surgery operating room was in front of me. I was shooketh! I guess I was thinking it would be done on a surgical chair, but no baby. This was a whole set. It was like walking into a scene from Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” video and my emotions began to run rampant. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

After numbing my cheek, tools went flying back and forth between the doctor and the nurse right in front of my eyes. I laid with my mouth open not feeling a thing. At some point, there were so many tools being passed that I thought it better for me to shut my eyes. They were giving me anxiety. From one cheek to the other, I would guess I was in the operating room for about 40 minutes in total. As they finished and I rose to a face mirror, I was so damn shocked that I just had surgery. I could visibly see the stitching on both cheeks. There were two stitch divots on each side of my cheek that legit looked like a set of baste stitches. I immediately expressed my concern to Dr. Shafer, and he assured me they would disappear within the month of healing. A MONTH!

Throughout the day as the local numbing wore off, my mouth did hurt and it swelled a bit. I took the prescriptions that were waiting for me and I pretty much tapped out. I needed to rest. 

 Over the next couple of days, I intensely stared at the stitch in my face. By the fourth day, the stitch did start to loosen up and began to look like it would disappear. The dimples no longer looked like two separate baste stitches on each side, but one indentation. When I went back to Dr. Shafer a week later for my follow-up I was feeling so much better about the trajectory. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

As of one and half weeks post-surgery, I love the dimples. I do have some scarring and hyperpigmentation where the stitch was on the right side of my cheek. But ultimately, I’m very happy with the results. And I look forward to my three-month follow-up: will the dimples last, or will I have to get them redone? Only time will tell.

As a beauty editor, I pretty much have the world of products and procedures at my fingertips. I regularly test new launches from makeup to skincare, but have always steered clear of receiving any actual aesthetic treatment. All of that changed when I discovered a surgery I had honestly never heard of before: dimpleplasty, a minimally-invasive surgery that creates dimples. 

 “OK, how?” I asked myself as I went down a rabbit hole of research. What was this sorcery that could bestow dimples upon the previously smooth-cheeked? I decided there was no better time than during a global pandemic to find out.

Stories and statistics assert that injectables and plastic surgery have proliferated during the pandemic. Call it the Zoom Effect: people have never before spent so much time staring at themselves, and in some cases, fixating on perceived flaws. Although it might play a slight factor, I can assure you that my own mounting interest in the surgery table isn’t really correlated with Zoom, or even the lockdown.

In fact, my predilection with dimples dates all the way back to 2006. When the movie ATL premiered in theaters, a cultural reset ensued. Actress Lauren London and her character New New became staples in entertainment. Her dimples were just so deep—and way too cute. Consequently, many women wanted to be “New New rocking the new, new shit”— her film character’s motto. Simultaneously, due to the sudden pervasiveness of reality television, I saw women with tattoos and piercings in unique areas. I felt drawn to the look and envisioned myself growing up to have sleeve tattoos, face tats and cheek piercings. I wanted to give a bad-ass/slightly rocker tease.

Source: Instagram

However, as time progressed and life dawned on me, I grew past that yearning. I just couldn’t see myself wanting to walk around with ball piercings in my cheek in order to get a dimple (which would also impart a little hole mark on the cheek that I don’t want on my face). With dimpleplasty, sutures are stitched inside of the mouth, leaving no external scars and producing a natural-looking dimple after the healing process is completed.  

“There are different layers of tissue in your face,” explains Dr. David Shafer, MD, FACS, the doctor who I called up to explain this seemingly unknown method. “Some of those layers are interconnected in some people more than others. People with dimples have more connections between those layers,” he elaborated.

I needed more of an explanation.

“Think of it like a quilt that has buttons along it or a tufted couch,” Dr. Shafer maintained in visual explanatory form when we met in his Fifth Avenue office.“With dimples, you have a connection between all of those layers. With dimpleplasty, all you’re doing is taking the area you want more connected and you’re artificially doing that with dissolvable stitches. You are not removing anything. You’re just cutting through the layers and then just sewing them together.” 

The biggest allure about this surgery— because let’s be clear, it is a surgery—was the fact that it doesn’t fully go through my cheek. There is nothing being put in my body, and there will be no scarring or holes left in my face. There is also a high chance that your body will heal and revert since it’s an act of trauma being caused to the muscle in your cheek— it’s not unlikely that your body may just heal it. 

“The surgery is short, about 15 minutes” said Shafer, which sealed the deal with me because let’s face it—the idea of undergoing surgery is scary. During the pandemic, the protocol also requires all clients receive an in-office Covid-19 test within four to five days of their scheduled procedure. I went for mine on a Monday and scheduled the procedure for Thursday. I was beyond ready to finally have dimples. 

Walking into the office on procedure day was a bit surreal. I removed my shoes and donned the equivalent of hospital socks. They handed me an operating gown that I wasn’t expecting. It frightened me.

Noel Cymone Walker.

Once we took the “before” pictures, removed all of my jewelry, and marked areas of my cheek, the nurse drew back a curtain, and a fully certified surgery operating room was in front of me. I was shooketh! I guess I was thinking it would be done on a surgical chair, but no baby. This was a whole set. It was like walking into a scene from Beyoncé’s “Pretty Hurts” video and my emotions began to run rampant. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

After numbing my cheek, tools went flying back and forth between the doctor and the nurse right in front of my eyes. I laid with my mouth open not feeling a thing. At some point, there were so many tools being passed that I thought it better for me to shut my eyes. They were giving me anxiety. From one cheek to the other, I would guess I was in the operating room for about 40 minutes in total. As they finished and I rose to a face mirror, I was so damn shocked that I just had surgery. I could visibly see the stitching on both cheeks. There were two stitch divots on each side of my cheek that legit looked like a set of baste stitches. I immediately expressed my concern to Dr. Shafer, and he assured me they would disappear within the month of healing. A MONTH!

Throughout the day as the local numbing wore off, my mouth did hurt and it swelled a bit. I took the prescriptions that were waiting for me and I pretty much tapped out. I needed to rest. 

 Over the next couple of days, I intensely stared at the stitch in my face. By the fourth day, the stitch did start to loosen up and began to look like it would disappear. The dimples no longer looked like two separate baste stitches on each side, but one indentation. When I went back to Dr. Shafer a week later for my follow-up I was feeling so much better about the trajectory. 

Noel Cymone Walker.

As of one and half weeks post-surgery, I love the dimples. I do have some scarring and hyperpigmentation where the stitch was on the right side of my cheek. But ultimately, I’m very happy with the results. And I look forward to my three-month follow-up: will the dimples last, or will I have to get them redone? Only time will tell.

Guys have been wearing nail polish forever but on celebs we’ve typically seen some chipped black polish and that’s about it. As of late though, folks of all genders have been playing around with nail art. And why not? It’s a fun, easy way to show your creativity. Machine Gun Kelly has even been showing off longer nail extensions on his pinky fingers, as well as some colorful nail art. It makes sense his next venture would be a nail polish brand.

According to Page Six, the “Bloody Valentine” singer teamed up with Unlisted Brand Lab on a line of nail polish called UN/DN. It’s being marketed as a “unisex” brand but isn’t all nail polish for any gender? Makeup, skincare, haircare, nail polish—it’s all genderless. Or it should be. There isn’t a ton of info on UN/DN yet but we know it’s set for a fall launch. And there’s a great chance it’s going to be much more than black shades.

“We’re honored to be working with MGK on this rare opportunity to build a brand that will progress a category to embody a cultural shift that has been a long time coming,” Unlisted founder and CEO Candy Harris said in a press release.

Source: Instagram

Aside from making music and launching beauty brands, MGK is lighting up tabloids for his relationship with Megan Fox. Rumor has it, they’ll be moving in together once Fox’s divorce is finalized from Brian Austin Green. Fox filed for divorce from Green on November 25, the day before Thanksgiving, after more than 10 years of marriage.

If you’re looking to explore your roots, or just want to soak up some regional history, look no further than your local cemetery. On most mornings, that is exactly where I go, because I am a funeral director. But I often head there on my off-time, too. Working as a funeral director has piqued my curiosity about the lives of those who rest beneath the monuments.

In fact, it was such interest that inspired me to author two books about notable American cemeteries: Green-Wood Cemetery and Gardens of Stone.

I’m far from alone in my interest. Touring cemeteries has become a huge pastime as evidenced by the many hashtags, such as #tombstonetourism and #cemeterywandering, to be found on social media.

Whether small churchyard cemeteries or large, elaborate necropolises, cemeteries today are regarded as cultural repositories and outdoor museums. What’s more, they are visual reminders that every life has a story, and one of them may be the story of your ancestors.

Learning About Your Ancestry

“Discovering the cemeteries and graveyards of your ancestors is a great place to further your genealogical research, as well as a make a physical connection to ancestral family,” says Valerie Elkins, a family history expert and professional genealogist based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

“Besides the commonly found information of name, birth and death dates, grave headstones may include clues on where to find further information to aid your research,” she says.

That information may include the person’s hometown, even in another country. Emblems on tombstones can provide clues to past membership in fraternal organizations, a person’s religion, and their veteran status, Elkins explains.

“Neighboring headstones can link families together, so it is important to pay attention to those graves surrounding them. Shared death dates might tell you that they died from the same cause such as a natural disaster, a disease outbreak, or that they died to possible unnatural causes such as war or murder.”

Elkins recommends the Internet as a good starting point if you are unable to locate your ancestor’s grave. FamilySearch.org, a free website, provides access to millions of records that the Family History Library, the world’s largest genealogical library, has available.

Ancestry.com, which has a large catalog of cemetery records, is also a good resource. It is a premium website, but local libraries often provide free access.

And if online research doesn’t work, Elkins says it pays to contact local and state genealogy societies, which may be the key to finding information about cemeteries, even unpublished small family graveyards, especially since cemeteries’ names may have changed over time.

“Once you locate your loved one’s headstone, take photos of the stone,” she says. “Some headstones have information on the back and sides of the stone, so be sure and record this as well. Take pictures of the neighboring headstones to research later.”

Touring for Pleasure

While many visit cemeteries to trace their family lineage, others go to view the splendid architecture and learn more about local history.

“The history of America is in cemeteries,” says Marge Raymond, a veteran senior tour guide for Brooklyn, New York’s renowned Green-Wood Cemetery.

Raymond, who knows just about every inch of the cemetery’s 478 acres, first discovered Green-Wood through her interest in bird-watching.

“I was captivated by the beauty of Green-Wood and wanted to know everything about it,” Raymond recalls. She began to go on tours offered by the cemetery, soon becoming a volunteer who welcomed visitors and manned the cemetery’s book cart.

Her dedication was rewarded when, in 2007, Raymond became an official Green-Wood Historic Fund tour guide. Early on, she created three unique routes for the trolley tour, and for over a decade has given hundreds of walking, and private, tours.

Raymond’s knack for storytelling has garnered her scores of glowing reviews on Tripadvisor, as well a reputation as one of New York’s most popular tour guides. She is also a professional vocalist, who has sung with such legends as Rock and Roll’s Steven Tyler of Aerosmith and was in the chorus for the late tenor, Luciano Pavarotti.

Sometimes billed as “the singing tour guide,” Raymond has been known to break into song at a gravesite, to the delight of those on her tour. One of those gravesites is that of Leonard Bernstein on Battle Hill, which occupies the highest point in Brooklyn and is a favorite spot of Raymond’s.

“I would call it a trifecta. There’s the remarkable Civil War Monument erected in 1869 by the City of New York, the statue of Minerva, the sister statue to the Statue of Liberty, and the grave of our beloved maestro Leonard Bernstein.” And, she says, “you can’t beat the view of the New York City skyline from that vantage point.”

What to Know Before You Go

Whether you’re taking a guided tour, or mapping out your own self-guided walk, here are some helpful tips from Elkins and Raymond to get the most out of your tour.

Familiarize Yourself with the Cemetery and Its Notable Inhabitants

“People come into the cemetery and look around. They may recall a name or two, but sometimes tourists don’t know the significance of what they’re looking at. That’s where a guided tour comes in. A tour guide knows the grounds and the stories behind the monuments,” Raymond says.

Search Find A Grave and Billion Graves

“Findagrave.com and BillionGraves.com are websites that have indexed thousands of graves from cemeteries around the world and are easily searchable,” says Elkins. BillionGraves.com also allows you to record the GPS coordinates of a headstone, along with the headstone’s information, to make it easier for others to locate.

Ask Questions of the Tour Guide

Don’t be a passive spectator. If something catches your interest, or you have a question, make sure to ask your guide. They welcome your interest.

Venture Off the Beaten Path

“I’ll find something interesting written on a headstone, then I’ll go and look it up,” says Raymond, who, while traversing Green-Wood’s public lots came across the grave of an early 20^th century cyclist whose stone monument noted that he “died from exhaustion” after winning a race.

Tailor the Tour to Your Special Interests

Whether those interests are legendary movie stars, natural disasters, world wars, inventors, organized crime figures, or sports figures, there’s likely a tour for that interest.

Size Up the Particulars of the Tour

It is practical to have some numbers. How long is the tour? What’s the terrain like? Is there a trolley or bus alternative to walking? Needless to say, wear comfortable shoes, bring water, and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Know the Cost

Costs vary from cemetery to cemetery. Members of historic funds often quality for a discount.

If you’re planning to be in New York this spring, Raymond will be giving tours on April 17^th at 1 pm & April 30^th at 7 pm, and on May 8^th & May 30^th at 1:00 pm. Head over to https://www.green-wood.com/calendar/ for more details. And as one Tripadvisor reviewer recommends:

“Make sure to ask for Marge when you book, she’s like a walking history book!”

How often do you visit your local cemetery? What is the primary reason to go? Have you been on a cemetery tour? Do you think you’d go to one if available in your area? What would you look for? Do you have a favorite cemetery? Please share with the community!