We chat to plastic surgeon DR MARCO FARIA CORREA about the latest minimally invasive technique for body contouring – rib-reduction to achieve a shapely and small waist.
When you hear “small-waisted”, what comes to mind? For me, it’s feisty Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) in the movie Gone with the Wind, bracing herself while Mammy (Hattie Daniels) tightly laces the young woman’s corset before a garden party to achieve the 17- or 18-inch waist that was de rigueur in the 1860s.
Eighteen inches is 45.7cm! Go on – wrap a measuring tape around your own middle. It’s ridiculous. It was just the same on the other side of the Atlantic, where organ-squishing iron corsets and tight-lacing became more extreme and dangerous to women’s health as the century progressed.
Surgical solutions for a small waist
Moving on from waspwaisted Victorian women and their tortuous stays, I think of the ultimate solution: surgically removing the lower ribs, so as to lengthen and narrow the midriff. “Ant-waist surgery” is another popular name for this removal of the so-called floating ribs – the 11th and 12th pairs – to decrease the waist-hip ratio for aesthetic reasons.
I long believed rumours from the 70s and 80s that singer-actor Cher was one of several slinky celebrities to have undergone rib removal to achieve that enviably sleek torso. Apparently, it was all a lie – she even engaged a surgeon in 1990 to confirm the presence of a full set of ribs. Even earlier, a corset-maker named Rosa Binner alleged in 1931 that French actress Polaire had had ribs removed in the 1890s. Considering how dangerous surgery was in those days, it sounds unlikely.
Today, this somewhat controversial surgery is being performed increasingly frequently: often in countries where medical standards are less stringent, but also in many others with advanced regulatory frameworks like our own.
Barbie waists
In the wake of the phenomenal worldwide success of the 2023 Barbie movie, it’s not surprising that rib reduction has been renamed for the preposterously shapely plastic plaything.
If you’ve followed the history of Mattel’s mademoiselle since she first hit the market in 1959, you’ll know that Barbie has evolved through the decades – not just her wardrobe and hairstyles, but also her bodily proportions… and even her gender politics, ostensibly. Whatever sells, I suppose.
I also wonder whether the updated persona of Margot Robbie’s Barbie would seriously consider having otherwise perfectly useful bones surgically removed so as to conform to an ideal of physical perfection. But that may be irrelevant… as irrelevant as wondering whether she’d have her tiny, made-for-high-heels feet broken and reset to fit into a miniature pair of Birkenstocks.
Good news is that, like Barbie herself, the procedure for rib-reduction has been steadily evolving into something more sophisticated: it’s also a lot less invasive. And, while not yet available in Singapore, it’s likely to be coming to a clinic near you fairly soon.
Who is Barbie-waist rib-reduction for?
Singapore-based Brazilian plastic surgeon Dr Marco Fario Correa is the best person to answer this question, as a cosmetic surgeon who has introduced a number of non-invasive body resculpting techniques to this country.
“It’s for someone who is either at or close to their ideal weight, but is unhappy with a boxy torso,” he says. “In fact, it’s for anyone who aspires to having a more feminine, hourglass shape.”
Even after liposuction plus exercise, you can be left with a squarish silhouette, he explains. “This is where the new rib-reduction technology can help to create the shapelier waist that many dream of.”
Updated rib-reduction
As an established leader in minimally invasive aesthetic surgery, Dr Marco is enthusiastic about incorporating the latest rib-reduction procedure into his menu of body shaping tools. It has already become popular in Mexico and South America, he says. In fact, he is hoping to introduce it to Singapore as early as the end of this year.
“The old technique involved removing one or two pairs of ribs – the so-called ‘floating ribs’, pairs 11 and 12. Surgeons would make an incision on either side of the spine, and you’d be left with long scars. Recovery could take up to six months.”
While still fairly radical, the new procedure sounds to me far less extreme and much more accessible. That’s because the surgeon is not physically extracting the ribs; instead, it’s a matter of remodelling and repositioning them.
“Using an ultrasound device, we carefully target the rib bones to make them softer and more fragile, while avoiding the surrounding soft tissue. We then push those fragilised ribs inwards, after which we apply a corset to maintain and set their position for a few weeks.”
Minimally Invasive High-Tech Body Contouring
This mouthful is the title of an event that Dr Marco is looking forward to hosting here in November this year. During the congress, he will be introducing the new rib-reduction technology to like-minded surgeons.
The event will centre around a live demonstration of the various techniques involved. For health and safety reasons, a cadaver will take the place of an, er, live model.
Firstly, Dr Marco will perform minimally invasive robotic surgery to correct rectus diastasis – an abnormal gap between the two sides of the abdominal muscles. This condition is often, but not only, caused by pregnancy.
Secondly, he will demonstrate high-definition body contouring, involving liposuction to remove excess fat from and recontour the waist, hips and abdomen, plus ultrasound-assisted fat-grafting into muscles such as the deltoids, pecs and abs.
Thirdly, the increasingly svelte cadaver will be treated with skin tightening technology that delivers plasma and radiofrequency waves to effectively firm up any remaining flabbiness. Finally, a surgeon colleague from Brazil will demonstrate the rib reshaping procedure described earlier. It involves only a tiny incision and is otherwise non-invasive.
All this will be followed by a comprehensive round-table discussion. And, possibly, a nice cup of tea and a biccie. How I would love to be a fly on that wall!
Points to note
As Dr Marco explains, the choice of one or more of these techniques is indicated by each patient’s individual circumstances and needs. “In particular, high-definition body contouring is not a weight-loss technique,” he reminds us. In fact, it is indicated for healthy people with a recommended BMI of around 21. What about the growing use of ultrasound in so many areas of medical endeavour?
Interestingly for someone like me who has always wanted a different nose to the one her genes ordained, radiofrequency (RF) is often used nowadays in place of traditional surgery to reshape the nasal bone without affecting soft tissue.
As with the advances in RF rib-reduction, it’s relatively non-invasive. You heal faster, and it costs less. So far, no one has mentioned the idea of using me as a rhinoplasty-model, but I remain open to offers… preferably while I’m still alive and able to benefit from my new-nose look.
#10-26/27 Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre, 38 Irrawaddy Road
6464 8075 | drmarco.com
This article on body contouring for a small waist first appeared in the July 2024 edition of Expat Living. You can purchase the latest issue or subscribe, so you never miss a copy!
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