Lifestyle

DON'T RATTLE MY CAGE

Painful ‘Rib Remodeling’ Trend Rises Among Women Seeking Smaller Waists

And you thought a traditional corset seemed painful.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

PublishedApr 14, 2026, 3:23 PM EDT

UpdatedApr 14, 2026, 3:23 PM EDT

Updated Apr 14, 2026, 3:23 PM EDTPublished Apr 14, 2026, 3:23 PM EDT

In the pursuit of a slimmer figure, some people are running into the natural limitations of their skeletons: most notably, their rib cage.

While corsets grew in popularity in the mid-2010s as celebrities and influencers touted “waist training” as the secret to their hourglass bodies, women now seek something more permanent.

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Insert the RibXcar “rib remodeling,” a relatively new and surprisingly trendy surgical technique in which the rib bones are broken to heal in a new, thinner shape.

“Once you lose weight and let’s say you get to your optimal physical fitness, the bottleneck—the limitation in terms of your waist and how narrow it can be compared to your hips—is the lower ribs,” Arizona-based plastic and reconstructive microsurgeon Oren Tessler explained to USA Today.

Influencer and reality TV star Enna Schell, 34, is one of the many women who have undergone the controversial surgery to make their waists appear smaller.

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She was not deterred by the three-month downtime or the $12,000 price tag, telling the New York Post she was “hibernating” through the winter in order to enjoy her new body once summer arrived.

“I’ll be showing off my new shape in bikinis, drop-waist bottoms, and low-rise jeans next summer,” she told the outlet.

Her goal, to take her midsection from 27.5 inches to around 23 inches practically overnight, was surprisingly realistic for the procedure.

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“Most patients can expect between a two-to-four-inch reduction in the waistline, and the results can be even more dramatic when combined with liposuction,” plastic surgeon Josef Hadeed told the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

The surgery is popular among thin clients, and those who dream of more curves in their torsos.

Although videos of the procedure are now surging on social media, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Andre P. Marshall called it one of his most-requested procedures—a trend that began as early as May 2025.

“In the last year, the popularity has risen immensely,” he told the American Society of Plastic Surgeons in an article that called the procedure “a low-risk, highly successful method that surgeons can use to help patients achieve the waistline of their dreams.”

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The surgery typically takes around an hour. While the client is under general anesthesia, small incisions are made in their lower back.

Then, the three lower ribs are cut on the surface with the help of a medical instrument and partially fractured with manual pressure.

As with most procedures, the healing process is crucial for successful results. After the surgery, the patient needs to wear a corset for the first three months to make sure the bones heal in the desired shape.

The corset can cause discomfort and make some basic tasks more difficult. In a TikTok, Schell explained that it took her almost a month to fall asleep comfortably in her corset. While the surgery is safer than rib removal, one of the possible risks of the procedure includes lung injury, and—based on her account—the worst sleep of your life.

Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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