Rib removal

Rib removal is surgery to remove one or more ribs. Rib resection is the removal of part of a rib. The procedures are done for various medical reasons. An urban myth holds that some celebrities have chosen to have ribs removed as a form of body modification.

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. A cancerous rib may be removed to stop the cancer spreading. Rib bone material may be used for a bone graft. The excess pressure of thoracic outlet syndrome may be reduced by rib removal. 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.

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.Germaine Greer's second-wave feminist book The Female Eunuch gives the practice as an example of male-directed distortion of the female body. 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.