“Trying on your first swimsuit of the summer is a test of lucidity”: can you escape the bikini blues?

Olivia, 47, is a renowned surgeon, a leader in her field in Marseille, where she has worked in a hospital for over twenty years. Interns fight to be under her supervision, and patients travel across the country to be operated on in her department. Yet, last Saturday, this mother of two, who has everything going for her, cried in the fitting room as she put on her first bikini of the summer. "With all these operations that require standing, these long hours, these triangle sandwiches, the M&M's from the vending machine, and menopause to top it all off, I was scared in front of the mirror. I was as white as an aspirin, with dark circles under my eyes, swollen legs, love handles... It was awful." When it came time to choose her new swimsuit for the summer, Olivia is far from being an isolated case, judging by the testimonies she's received...

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