Move over Ozempic.
There’s no denying that weight loss drugs are having a moment. However, some people are now taking things a step further to alter their bodies by going under the knife to reposition their ribs.
A new procedure, called RibXcar has women shelling out thousands of dollars to undergo surgery to achieve the coveted hourglass figure.
RibXcar — a reportedly minimally invasive procedure — uses ultrasound guidance to “reposition the 10th, 11th, and 12th ribs inward, creating a more sculpted, defined, pinched waistline,” according to Plastic Surgery Hub.
By rearranging a person’s ribs, anyone — regardless of their size and natural shape — can supposedly see results from this surgery. Some people claim they lost several inches off their waist, thanks to RibXcar.
Recovery time is said to be only two to three weeks and scarring is minimal since surgeons use a pinhole-sized to access the targeted ribs.
While all of this sounds too good to be true, for a person to contour their waist — they’ll need to hand over $14,000 to $16,000, which includes anesthesia and the operating room, depending on where the procedure is being done.
According to the Daily Mail, that price range is what Dr. Thomas Sterry, a New York City plastic surgeon charges.
After the procedure, Sterry explained that patients wear a corset to control how small they want their waistline to be.
Post-op patients are advised to sleep on their backs for 10 days and avoid doing any strenuous activities for at least six weeks.
Now, how painful is this surgery? Because it sounds it.
“The pain from RibXcar alone is surprisingly tolerable, and the patients are largely in charge of their results,” he told the Daily Mail.
“The better their compliance, and the snugger they wear their garment, the more profound the result will be,” he added.
The corset is meant to be worn for three months post-op. Similar to needing to wear a retainer after getting braces taken off: “If the patient doesn’t wear the corset, the muscles will pull the ribs back to their original position,” Sterry explained.
This surgery is offered to both men and women — and Sterry has seen patients take it in conjunction with GLP-1s and liposuction surgeries.
If patients decide to go the RibXcar lipo route, it can cost them upwards of $20,000 to create the body they’ve always wanted but struggled to achieve with traditional diet and exercise.
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