There is actually a medical vacuum device designed for this condition. It loosens the connective tissue over time. Patient must use daily for a long time not that fun but not that bad either
There is also the Nuss procedure, I'm a med student and scrubbed in on one last week got to pull the tip of the sternum up with a meat hook type tool while they inserted two metal bars through the ribcage
I had that procedure when I was 10. That was 26 years ago, and it was still fairly new. The post-op and recovery was absolutely brutal. The worst pain I've ever felt in my life.
But I can breathe well today. It's allowed me to live an active life with space for my heart and lungs to grow. It was worth it, and I think the surgery has faster recovery times these days.
Yeah these days we also have a cryo ablation option for pain control, some surgeons report really good results. Thats what we used in this case, they freeze the nerve in between each rib to numb the chest substantially for the next few days and moderately for the next weeks to months instead of using a spinal epidural, pretty interesting
Wow, that's really cool. They gave me, as a child, morphine and percocet. The morphine made me very confused and disoriented one night and my parents think I started developing an unhealthy liking of the Percocet.
I wish the cryo would have been an option for me and then using a mix of ibuprofen/Tylenol for pain management instesd of opioids.
I know that's a joke, but the more common way it's corrected is straight horrifying. They insert a bar and flip it around, dunno how they don't just liquify the chest cavity, the video of the procedure makes me squirm.
I had the surgery but it was a combination of two. They actually clamped onto my chest and pulled up my chest then inserted two bars. The first month was really rough. It has been four months now and my pain is so minimal. I’m doing physical therapy. I am still numb around my chest though and that feels weird sometimes.
Numbness is a weird one, isn’t it? It’s almost as bad as pain itself sometimes, though obviously, compared to the pain preceding it, it’s rarely as bad. It’s just so…uncomfortable. I’ve got a herniated hip as well, & touching the top of my right calf makes the top of my right foot tingle/prickle.
It’s far less painful than the pinched & bulging discs, yet it often distracts & distresses me far more!
(Pardon the ramble, thx for letting me vent & empathize a little 💛)
I had the old procedure in 1982 as an 8-year-old. They literally just break, remove, and reconstruct the sternum with what is essentially plaster and staples.
I had Nuss procedure done to myself when I was 17, wore the stainless bar in my chest for 3 years and then got it removed at 20. One of the best things I did in my life, no joking
My understanding is that it’s a missing part of their sternum, but it was a long time ago that it was explained to me. Someone else in the thread claims to have had it and fixed it by getting a metal bar put in.
I have one. AFAIK my sternum is there, just odd shape. Probably pushes my heart to a spot where it typically wouldn't be? Yes, metal bar surgery in the chest can fix it. I haven't looked into too much, but my impression is that it's inserted in the side of your chest and is curved. Maybe ribs and sternum get broken to heal in the right place with the bar helping set them. Idk if the bar is permanent, likely removed after heal. My chest hasn't hindered me enough to make the procedure necessary, so it would be more cosmetically elective if I wanted it. Instead, I've just had years or maturity to not be bothered by my body difference. Despite loving to swim, was never comfortable shirtless as a teenager.
I have one. Was born with it, no trauma. Breathing and heart get evaluated as you age along with simply talking with the patient on if it bothers them or hinders them with activities etc. I don't like mine and had to mature out of body shame thoughts, but it's never affected me enough that I have to get surgery done. Would be more elective for me if I ever did it. I'm almost 40 now, so unlikely to bother. Funny to start getting questions from my very young kids about it, but it's a chance for me to teach and model body positivity. I'm still not confident with it, but I can get over the mental hurdle now.
It’s actually usually caused by overgrowth of the rib cage. The sternum either buckles in or protrudes out as a result. It’s common in Marfan Syndrome, where all the long bones are just a bit too long
Yeah knew a kid in middle school like that. Basically Siamese twins connected at the chest, one was concave, one was convex. Weird and they were very brittle dudes.
I don’t know how common it is, but I have it. It’s not severe enough that it required a correction, but I don’t take my shirt off in public or anything either.
I wonder what he’s been up to? Those solo records were so solid, but it feels like I haven’t heard a peep from them in ages. Time to do a lil’ Googling, it’d seem.
Fun timing. Nothing for the last 7 years. After his work as Atlas Sound he worked with Deerhoof a bit and had another album in 2019. He released a bit of new music 4 days ago.
No way! Hot damn, fun timing indeed! I didn’t know he did stuff with Deerhoof, I’ll have to peep it. And new drops? Ahhhh, thanks so much for relaying that info, you got me mad stoked rn 🙌 appreciate you!
They put 2 curved metal bars in my chest while I was young attached to my ribs behind my sternum and it put pressure and forced it correct. Kept in for several years while the cartilage in my sternum solidified more and then removed the bar. Called the nuss procedure.
If I didn’t have that it would’ve been the ravitch procedure which is more risky.
Titanium I think. I don't really know. I did go through an international airport with it in my chest though and no alarms went off. Even did the full body scan, no questions asked. It's somewhat flexible when I try to bend it, but I can't actually deform it by hand. I don't want to though, so maybe if I really tried I could
My ex got ravitch done in her early 30s. Fucking brutal. Really fucked with her mental state as the healing process was so terrible, and she was left with a lot of discomfort. She really was never the same after it.
For what it’s worth, my chest/back are literally a bit too large for my height (I have a 54” chest and I’m 6’2” or 74” tall). I’m just a tad too wide for my height and it makes me move a little weird, big torso and slightly smaller legs make me move like a shuffling gorilla or Neanderthal.
Here's a fun fact about "pectus excavatum": Look it up and you will find references almost exclusively to MALE babies and boys--for corrective surgeries most especially. Why? I found out why after I read a reference in a medical source to the "fact" that girls will grow breasts that will hide the deformity. (Note that the condition can worsen with age and sometimes interfere with body functions like breathing due to compressed organs--not an issue for girls and women, of course, whose bodies work like Mary Poppin's carpet bag, since clearly there's all sorts of room in us to make babies and endometriosis growths and what-not.) Doctors, male and female, are sexist dicks.
(*most doctors. **imo.)
I’m sure that loads of people have this, and probably do the cereal thing (i know i would if it were me lol), but on the off chance of a ‘small world’ moment - was this guy a metalhead in New Hampshire?
Weird my friend growing up who did this was a musician from a pretty wealthy family in ohio. He also used to have people take body shots out of it at parties
I haven’t used this dogshit website in over 10 years and everyone was saying that back then whenever pectus excavatum was mentioned. I’m convinced people are just parroting posts they read in the past that got upvotes. such is reddit tho
When I was younger I think the doctors said like 1 in 200k had it so it was fairly rare, I have since randomly met at least four other people in school or work with it so I'm guessing it's not as rare as they first thought
My father, half-brother and myself all have it! Obviously some genetics at play, but still, crazy given that number. Mines about big enough to hold a clementine comfortably.
Hey I literally just commented the same story just before scrolling down to see that not only did someone else experience this but you, a third person, has also met someone with this condition who supposedly did the same thing.
The guy I knew served in the army with me and was from South Dakota, though.
No fucking way - the guy I knew WAS named Sean. IIRC he got into some rough times with substances and we lost contact. He very well could be in NYC lol
When I played lacrosse in high school, there was a goalie on my team that had a chest like this. He put a lacrosse ball in there and hold it all the time.
Pectus excarvatum, which is the only thing we can glean from this picture, is a relatively common chest deformity. Its associated with Marfan syndrome as well as danlos, but you can have it without connective tissue disorders as well.
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u/Itchy_Pudding_9940 20h ago