Unsolved:Rib removal

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Short description: Surgical excision of a rib
Rib removal
SpecialtyPlastic surgeon (if not for therapeutic reason)

Rib removal is surgery to remove one or more ribs. Rib resection is the removal of part of a rib.[1] The procedures are done for various medical reasons. A number of celebrities have been falsely rumoured to have had ribs removed as a form of body modification.[2]

Therapeutic removal

Rib removal may be medically approved in several situations. If a rib is fractured in such a way that it might puncture a vital organ, it may be safer to remove it than wait for it to heal.[1] A cancerous rib may be removed to stop the cancer from spreading.[1] Rib bone material may be used for a bone graft.[1] The excess pressure of thoracic outlet syndrome may be reduced by rib removal.[1] Major surgery to the thoracic cavity, such as open heart surgery, may require removal of ribs to allow access to the organ being operated on.[1]

Body modification

Victorian fashion valued a wasp waist and hourglass figure for women. This was achieved through laced corsets. Twentieth-century rumors hold that some women had their lower ribs removed to facilitate tighter lacing of the waist. In 1931, corset-maker Rosa Binner alleged that French actress Polaire had had her lowest rib removed in the 1890s.[3] Germaine Greer's second-wave feminist book The Female Eunuch gives the practice as an example of male-directed distortion of the female body.[4] Valerie Steele's history of the corset finds no evidence of such a procedure, and with Lynne Kutsche argues the mortal danger of surgery of the era makes it extremely implausible.[5]

Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes.com suggests that Florenz Ziegfeld might have started such a rumor about his protégée Anna Held to publicize her career.[6] Similar stories have been spread about later celebrities. Cher hired a physician in 1990 to confirm that she has a full set of ribs.[6] It was rumored that Marilyn Manson had ribs removed to facilitate autofellatio.[7] Interviewed for a Vogue article in 2000, John E. Sherman of Weill Cornell Medical College said that while such a procedure was theoretically possible, there was no record of it in the medical literature.[8]

American model and performer Amanda Lepore reportedly underwent a surgery similar to rib removal in 2000, going to Mexico to have some of her ribs "broken and pushed in."[9][10][11]

In 2015, Swedish model Pixee Fox, citing inspiration from hyper-feminine cartoon characters, like Tinker Bell and Jessica Rabbit, sought to have six of her ribs removed in order to create a more exaggerated hourglass figure.[12] The surgery, performed in Carmel, Indiana by plastic surgeon Dr. Barry Eppley, reportedly cost Fox $9,000 USD and removed the ribs 10 through 12, as well as some of the muscle attached to them.[13] After her surgery, Fox was able to shrink her waist to 16 inches in circumference while in a corset. Her experience was documented by Barcroft TV.[14] In an interview with Closer, Fox said it had initially been difficult for her to find a doctor willing to perform the surgery.[15]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Rib Resection". Medical Disability Guidelines. Reed Group. http://www.mdguidelines.com/rib-resection. Retrieved 16 April 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Getting Waisted". Snopes. 8 August 2008. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/vanities/ribs.asp. Retrieved November 26, 2016. 
  3. ↑ Ducas, Dorothy (18 January 1931). "Confessions of the Queen of Corsets". Palm Beach Post (Palm Beach). https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HmQyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ELYFAAAAIBAJ&dq=rib-removed&pg=1768%2C1460762. Retrieved 16 April 2013. 
  4. ↑ Greer, Germaine (2009-10-06). The Female Eunuch. HarperCollins. p. 34. ISBN 9780061972805. https://books.google.com/books?id=dtnbrx0pOI4C&pg=PT34. Retrieved 16 April 2013. 
  5. ↑ Steele, Valerie (2001). The Corset: A Cultural History. Yale University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 9780300099539. https://books.google.com/books?id=uk6I0-MDXVQC&pg=PA73. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Mikkelson, Barbara (8 July 2006). "Rib Removal". snopes.com. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/vanities/ribs.asp. Retrieved 16 April 2013. 
  7. ↑ VanHooker, Brian (November 2017). "All the reasons celebs have been rumored to have ribs removed and whether they would have worked". https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/all-the-reasons-celebs-have-been-rumored-to-have-ribs-removed-and-whether-they-would-have-worked. 
  8. ↑ Godfrey-June, Jean (August 2000). "Waist Land". Vogue. http://www.nyplasticsurg.com/vogue2.html. Retrieved 16 April 2013. 
  9. ↑ "Here’s what ‘the most expensive body on Earth’ looks like" (in en-US). 2017-08-21. https://nypost.com/2017/08/21/heres-what-the-most-expensive-body-on-earth-looks-like/. 
  10. ↑ "Amanda Lepore, Transgender Club Diva, Tells All About Her Plastic Surgery (Published 2017)" (in en). 2017-07-19. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/style/amanda-lepore-transgender-memoir.html. 
  11. ↑ "Into the Gloss interview with Amanda Lepore". 2016-02-24. http://intothegloss.com/2014/01/amanda-lepore/. 
  12. ↑ truly (2015-11-26). Model Has Six Ribs Removed In World's Smallest Waist Bid. Retrieved 2025-10-28 – via YouTube.
  13. ↑ Vaughn, Beth (2016-05-20). "Model travels to Indiana to get rare rib removal" (in en). https://www.wptv.com/news/national/plastic-surgery-model-travels-to-carmel-for-latest-procedure. 
  14. ↑ "Pixee Fox Has Six Ribs Removed to Achieve Cartoon Character Proportions" (in en). https://people.com/health/pixee-fox-has-six-ribs-removed-to-achieve-cartoon-character-proportions/. 
  15. ↑ Knox, Miranda. Closer Magazine: Issue 672, 13 November 2015. "'I've Had Six Ribs Removed To Look Like a Living Doll'".



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