Will I Need To Wear A Corset After Rib Removal Surgery?

Q: Dr. Eppley, i am interested in rib removal. I am a fitness trainer and I need a narrow tail. What is the effect after the treatment plus wearing a corset? Is it possible to reduce the lateral abdominal muscle ?? 

A: Thank you for your inquiry and sending your picture. Having done someone similar to you before, the combination of rib removal and some inward modification of the LD muscle over it will maximize whatever amount of waistline narrowing that is humanly possible. The wearing of corsets after rib removal surgery is only recommended for the following two circumstances: 1) as a method of short term postoperative maximal compression to get rid of swelling or 2) to be used in conjunction with rib osteotomies/fracture to help shape the now mobile lower ribcage as it heals.

While a section of the external abdominal oblique muscle can be removed, this requires a separate incision to do so.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis, Indiana