If there’s one common factor that unites all of Bravo’s Real Housewives, no matter the franchise, it’s a love of cosmetic treatments. The ladies aren’t shy about sharing their experiences with all kinds of procedures, frequently taking to social media to reveal exactly what they’ve “had done.” And 2020 was no different; despite the craziness of this year, the Housewives were as focused on their quest for taut skin and toned bodies as ever. Here, the cosmetic procedures they tried this year.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Dolores Catania
Last year, Catania spoke candidly about her facelift, neck lift, and eyelid surgery. This year, it was all about focusing on her body; she had a tummy tuck over the summer, while waiting for production on The Real Housewives of New Jersey to resume. “I gained 40 pounds in a year, then I couldn’t lose it for a while, and when I finally did, I had some extra skin. I know enough about working out, bodybuilding, and weight loss to know that no matter how much I did work out, now that I have my thyroid and my hormones straight, there were parts of my body that needed to be fixed,” Catania told RealSelf in July.
She even did an Instagram Live with her surgeon, Dr. Joseph Michaels, to chat with fans about the procedure and her decision to do it. (She also posted their pre-op Zoom call.) Along with the tummy tuck, Catania also underwent liposuction and a fat transfer, sharing that Dr. Michaels removed fat from her back and used it to enhance her buttocks.
Margaret Josephs
Josephs also paid a visit to Catania’s doctor this summer. On August 12, she posted a photo from a post-op visit with Dr. Michaels, to reveal the results of her breast reduction and lift. The caption reads, “The Man behind The Marges New Melons. No implants. Just a reduction and a lift!! And they are JUICY melons!” Fans of the show will recall that Josephs frequently taped up her breasts when getting dressed for events; on her podcast, Caviar Dreams, Tuna Fish Budget, she revealed that her previously 34DD breasts made it hard to get dressed and hurt her back. “I’m still a D cup, but they just look so much better,” she said, describing the end result. “I’m very grateful. I feel a lot better about myself, and that’s what counts.”
(In July, Josephs also shared the results of a facelift revision via an Instagram Story. After filming for season 10 wrapped in 2019, she underwent an upper and lower eyelid lift as well as a cheek lift and jaw and neckline revisions. Once again, she and Catania shared the same doctor, Dr. Mark Karolak, a facial plastic surgeon in Wall, New Jersey, who performed Catania’s 2019 facelift as well.)
Teresa Guidice
In an Instagram photo posted on February 12, Guidice shared a photo of herself getting an Ultherapy treatment on her face and neck. “Keeping my collagen building with my friend @drmargaritalolis at Skin Laser & Surgery Specialists of NY&NJ in Hackensack N.J. with Ulthera. This treatment helps to stimulate and build collagen deep in your skin for natural, long lasting lifting of the face and neck. This treatment was done in 2 hours with no downtime,” the caption reads.
(Guidice also opened up about her 2018 breast augmentation this year. After famously getting new “bubbies” in 2008, while filming season one of RHONJ, she had her implants replaced 10 years later. While she shared the news with Andy Cohen at the time, she posted an Instagram photo with her doctor and even more details about the surgery in January.)
Honorable Mention: Jennifer Aydin
As the wife of a plastic surgeon, Aydin isn’t shy about discussing the many cosmetic procedures she’s tried. In November 2019, she posted a photo explaining her decision to undergo a tummy tuck, performed by none other than her husband, board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. N. Bill Aydin. “I’ve decided to let you guys in on a personal decision that I’ve been contemplating with ever since I had my fifth child. A tummy tuck. It wasn’t an easy decision. To be honest, I was scared, scared to bite the bullet and actually do what I said I was going to do all these years. But for me, especially now, since I’ve lost so much weight, I have a lot of excess loose skin that can only be removed with surgery,” she wrote. She also posted several candid videos afterward, sharing nitty-gritty details of the recovery process.
The Real Housewives of New York City
Leah McSweeney
The beloved newcomer made a splash during her first season by always telling it like it is, and she keeps it just as real when talking about cosmetic procedures. In September, when fans questioned an Instagram Story of a black-eyed selfie, she immediately responded that she had undergone a rhinoplasty and septoplasty. “People are [direct messaging] me like crazy inquiring why I have black eyes and asking if I got a nose job, asking if I got beat up. I am not trying to hide anything from anybody. I got a rhinoplasty and a septoplasty,” she posted.
McSweeney is also a fan of microneedling. On the November 12 episode of RealSelf’s Beauty in Focus series, she talked about her experience with Vivace, a radiofrequency microneedling treatment. “I’m somewhat of a skin-care fanatic, and I will try and do anything in order to get as close to perfect skin as I can. My dermatologist, Dr. Rita Linker, had suggested Vivace because there’s no downtime,” she said. “It really changed my skin,” she continued, noting that it improved the look of her pores, pigmentation, and overall skin texture. “I’ve done a lot of different things, and this is something I can really continue to get, because there is no downtime.”
Sonja Morgan
Known and beloved for her total candor, Morgan openly addressed rumors when she debuted a new look this summer, confirming that she underwent a lower facelift and necklift after wrapping Season 12, via a July 20 Instagram post. (In her caption, she called the decision “a no-brainer.” ) But this wasn’t any old facelift; as she went on to explain in the post, New York City board-certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Andrew Jacono performed a deep plane face lift, which raises the muscle, connective tissue, and skin layers as one unit—a technique that some doctors say yields a more natural result.
In September, Morgan also showed off her nonsurgical nose job, courtesy of New York City board-certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Ramtin Kassir, on her Instagram Stories. The procedure uses filler to alter the shape of the nose, with results that can last up to six months.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
Kyle Richards
The franchise OG has been open about her 2006 nose job; in October, she revealed that she had undergone another one, in a series of Instagram stories. “I fixed my nose. I broke it last September, and the bone poking out bothered me. So I fixed the bone, fixed my breathing problems and refined the tip. I will always tell you guys the truth,” she captioned a photo of her profile.
Dorit Kemsley
Plastic surgery rumors about Kemsley’s ever-changing appearance run rampant, though the reality star maintains that she’s had only Botox and filler. She did share that she got veneers this year, posting an Instagram photo with her dentist, Dr. Sam Saleh, on July 7. In the caption, she says, “I was warned by my dentists, all growing up, that I would need to wear a night guard because of excessive grinding at night, but the thought didn’t appeal to me, so I never did anything about it. As the years went on, I would notice my teeth looked smaller and smaller, and I started to have sensitivity, which became increasingly more uncomfortable over time. Each dentist I saw over the last few years said the same to me, that I had grinded my teeth down to [a] point where veneers were inevitable.” She went on to sing the praises of Dr. Saleh, noting that her husband, PK, also got veneers and how happy both of them were with the results.
The Real Housewives of Orange County
Kelly Dodd
Dodd kicked off the year sharing the results of a VI Peel and a HydraFacial as well as Bellafill injections in her jawline, in her January 13 Instagram Story . She pointed out her more defined jaw, calling it “a mini facelift without a facelift” as she posted during her appointment at CosmetiCare in Newport Beach, California.
Three days later, she posted before and after photos of her microbladed brows, courtesy of True U Aesthetics in San Francisco. And in a December 2 Instagram Story, Dodd shared live-time videos of herself, undergoing CoolSculpting to address what she said were exercise-induced hip dips.
Emily Simpson
Simpson was so open about her October breast implant removal and breast lift that she was even willing to have the entire surgery filmed. Her doctor, Dr. Siamak Agha, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Newport Beach, California, shared a series of videos filming the surgery, during which she also underwent a reverse tummy tuck. “I put in silicone implants 4 years ago, and I feel my arthritis and joint pain increased significantly after doing this. I researched and read a lot about BII (breast implant illness), so I decided to remove them for health reasons. Originally, I thought I could just replace them with saline implants… but my [doctor] informed me that even saline implants are covered in a silicone shell. So the only way to be completely silicone free is to remove them and not replace!” she said prior to the surgery, in an Instagram Q&A where she explained her decision to remove her implants.
Several weeks later, she called the explant surgery and lift “the best decision ever” when a fan asked if she felt better afterward, during another Insta Story Q&A session.
On December 15, Simpson posted a series of Instagram videos of herself, getting Emsculpt Neo on her abdomen at Dr. Agha’s office, in preparation for the upcoming season 15 reunion. “You can hear it, it gets intense. It’s like 50,000 sit-ups at one time,” she said in her Instagram Story.
Braunwyn Windham-Burke
Windham-Burke’s love life made headlines at the end of 2020, but she started the year sharing her experience undergoing FaceTite, a radiofrequency skin tightening and firming treatment, and Morpheus8 radiofrequency microneedling.
“Today I’m doing the FaceTite and Morpheus 8, they’re all minimally invasive, with almost no down time, and will help keep me looking refreshed. I didn’t want to change how I look, I actually like my face, but did want to restore some of the fullness I’ve lost over the years (having babies takes its toll!)” she captioned a photo with her doctor. Afterward, she took to her Instagram Stories to share the recovery process, also revealing that she had fat transfered from the tops of her knees to the under-eye area, to help eliminate dark circles.
The Real Housewives of Atlanta
Porsha Wiliams
Williams called her Botox appointment a #MothersDayGift2Myself in a May 10 selfie.
The Real Housewives of Dallas
Kameron Westcott
Dr. Garo Kassabian, a board-certified plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, shared before and after photos as well as a time-lapse video of Westcott, undergoing injectable jawline contouring, in January, shortly after the reality star’s 37th birthday. Dr. Kassabian calls the procedure “the Game Changer” and describes it on his site as “using Juvéderm Ultra Plus XC and Voluma XC facial fillers to help achieve a natural contoured appearance, enhance your natural beautiful lines, and create a balanced look.” (He also adds that it takes an hour or less and comes with no downtime.) Westcott also received fillers in her marionette lines and in her lips during the same appointment.
Cary Deuber
A registered nurse who frequently assists her plastic surgeon husband, Deuber often documents (at length) the various procedures she tries. In October, she detailed the entire process of her first cosmetic facial surgery, an upper eyelid lift. (She also had a Halo laser treatment and Profound radiofrequency microneedling done at the same time.) “I’m 44, it happens,” she says in the first video of her Instagram Story series, as she points to excess skin on her upper lids. The videos include detailed footage of the actual procedure (much of which Deuber narrates while her husband, Dallas board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Deuber, performs the surgery) and the recovery process, including videos of herself, removing her own stitches.
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City
Heather Gay
They may be newbies, but the stars of the latest franchise are certainly no strangers to sharing their forays into cosmetic treatments. As cofounder of Salt Lake City’s Beauty Lab + Laser, Gay speaks openly about her love of injectables, having previously told Page Six that there may be no suchthing as too much Botox. “If speaking is important to you, then you can get too much Botox. If moving your lips and forehead in any way is important, then yeah, you can get too much Botox. If you just want to stand there and look beautiful, there’s never enough,” she said. She went on to tell the outlet that she gets Botox every three to four months and her lips done once a year. (Gay’s costar, Jen Shah, also visited the med spa for Botox injections in her armpits, to treat excess sweating, in 2019, as seen on the show’s premiere episode.)
Lisa Barlow
In her December 2 Instagram Story, Barlow filmed herself getting an Aquagold treatment, a combination of microneedling and an infusion of platelet-rich plasma.
