Rib 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]

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]