Exclusive | Rib remodeling surgery gaining in popularity amid risky ‘Ozempic body’ trend

The shocking trend of suddenly curve-less celebrities flaunting rail-thin frames is having a potentially dangerous impact on women like Emily James.

Easily accessible GLP-1 drugs can deliver a so-called ‘Ozempic body’ in just months, as it has for bold-facers like Amy Schumer and Meghan Trainor. But James, 28, opted to take even more drastic measures in her quest for perfection — spending $13,750 on a risky rib removal procedure.

Having a total of six ribs taken out of her body, three from each side, would allow her — she hoped — to instantly achieve the perfect physique she’d always dreamed of.  

Instead, James found herself in a waking nightmare. 

After going under the knife to shrink her waistline from 32 inches to 24 inches, the lifestyle influencer exclusively told The Post she had nothing but regret over her decision to go for the not-so-quick fix.

“I don’t recommend rib removal surgery to anyone,” James said in an interview on the first anniversary of her elective cut — which she said put some of her most vital organs in danger. 

“There are no longer ribs protecting my liver and kidneys, which could be a problem if I’m ever in a bad accident or experience an extreme impact,” said the Missourian. “The recovery process took about seven months. It was intense and incredibly painful. Coughing felt like someone was murdering me.”

Chalk it up to the high price of beauty that young girls are gladly paying in exchange for pin-up bodies. 

James’ abscission, also known as rib resection or “ant-waist surgery,” has long beckoned already-slender women to operating tables.

To create the cinched look, doctors typically saw off the 11th and 12th ribs, which are often referred to as the “floating ribs” — because they’re not connected to the front of the rib cage.

The high-risk operation has been around since the 1970s — something that sounded unappealing enough to turn off those seeking dramatic transformations on impulse.

But now, a new, more easily accessible alternative known as rib remodeling, or RibXcar, is reviving the idea at a time when total body overhaul has never been more fashionable — or this easy.

Rib remodeling first appeared in the United States last year, after becoming popular in South America — offering similar, torso-shrinking perks with just a few cracked bones.

An enthusiastic May 2025 report by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons called rib remodeling a “low-risk, highly successful method … ideal for patients who want to better define their waist and are on the hunt for something truly amazing to help create a svelte, contoured figure with little downtime or scarring.”

Women like New Yorker Shiqi Ma are signing up. Eager to show off a perfectly taut tummy at her destination wedding in Bali next July, she tapped Upper East Side plastic surgeon Thomas Sterry, who performed the RibXCar procedure earlier this year, at a cost of $10,000.

“I did this to feel confident on my big day,” said Ma, 27, an accountant — who had Sterry shrink her from a 28-inch waist to 25 inches. “My new waistline makes me feel sexier. I’m excited to see my wedding pictures and not feel the need to photoshop them.”

It was Ma’s first cosmetic procedure, for which she — like most rib remodeling patients — was put under anesthesia. Shiqi said the pricey ordeal came with minimal pain, slight swelling and, most importantly, a Kardashian-esque finish. 

Now free from her “straight up and down” build, Ma looks forward to entering the new year, the dawn of her bridal era, with an added measure of “confidence,” she said.

“I’m not aiming to have a perfect body, just a more feminine look,” Ma explained.

In an interview with The Post, Sterry, a board-certified surgeon, called RibXCar an “easy, scarless procedure.”

“I soften the outer cortex of the floating ribs, creating controlled fractures that bend, rather than break, the bones,” he explained of the $14,000 to $16,000 tapering. 

RibXcar, first pioneered by Dr. Raúl Manzaneda Cipriani, begins with a CT scan of a patient’s chest to determine which ribs can be treated during the process. An ultrasound-guided device is then used to partially fracture each rib through pin-hole incisions. Through the small punctures, the ribs are gently repositioned inward to create a slenderized waistline. 

Once out of the operating room, patients must wear a waist-training corset for at least 23 hours per day for three months. The corset acts as a cast, holding the fractured bones in their new, pinched positions during recovery. 

Patients can expect a 4-inch change in shape, but Sterry — who likes to refer to RibXCar as “Invisalign for the waist” — said “the results are contingent on how often the patient wears the corset.”

Since Ramsen Azizi, a double-board-certified plastic surgeon in Chicago began offering the surgery for $7,500 this summer, his practice has been inundated with requests.

“I’m shocked by the amount of calls I get — women from their early 20s through their early 60s all want it,” the expert told The Post, noting that ladies over the age of 45 must first undergo a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan (DEXA) to determine bone density. 

Azizi added that patients often bring in inspiration pictures of AI-generated vixens, tasking him with giving them the faux form. But he said that his clients come out looking more realistic than a digitized image.

“Rib remodeling gives them a permanent narrowing and a natural look,” he said. “It’s like the perfect storm of plastic surgery results.”

Stevi Dee, 38, a single mother of one from South Florida, said that rib remodeling helped her feel “complete” after giving birth left her with a look she didn’t want. 

“I got [a] Brazilian butt lift (BBL) in 2017, but when I had my son in 2019, my body changed,” said Dee, owner of Boca Raton’s InkAngel permanent-makeup studio. “My rib cage spread, and I got uncomfortably skinny due to the stress of being a single mom and an entrepreneur.

“I even lost all the fat from my BBL,” she told The Post. 

To right the perceived wrong, she opted for a second BBL in October 2024 with surgeon Pat Pazmiño — who suggested she simultaneously undergo rib remodeling. The procedure shaved 2 inches off her tummy. 

“It was a $5,500 add-on, like you add on french fries at a restaurant,” Dee explained, claiming her re-augmented rear and freshly refined waist complement her huge 30-H breast implants. 

And while she’s an advocate for surgical self-improvements, Dee encouraged others to ensure that their mental health is in tip-top shape before making revisions to their shapes.

“This surgery is just another part of my journey — I was already happy with my body,” she insisted. “Now I just have a bigger booty, bigger boobs and a really tiny waist.”

San Diegan Enna Schell, who’s only a month post-op from her RibXcar transformation by Dr. Sergey Turin in Phoenix, Arizona, said she’s equally pleased with her decision.

“I’m already seeing results,” the 34-year-old beauty content creator told The Post — adding that the chilly season is “the most wonderful time” of year to get side-slimming surgery.

“I’m in hibernation, wearing this corset and Spanx for now, but I’ll be showing off my new shape in bikinis, drop-waist bottoms and low-rise jeans next summer.”

She’s hoping the $12,000 body modification will ultimately shave off 4 to 5 inches from her once 27.5-inch center.

At what eventual cost for her long term health and body image, only time will tell, say experts like NYC psychotherapist Leslie Koeppel, who told The Post that before undergoing any major procedure, candidates need to be sure they’re doing so for the right reasons.

“These kinds of drastic cosmetic surgeries can offer a temporary boost in self image, but they also carry the risk of reinforcing the belief that one’s worth depends on how they look and on meeting trends in society. When surgery becomes the main way to manage this insecurity or discomfort with one’s body, the long-term emotional outcome is often fragile,” she warned.

“Sustainable self-image comes from the internal work, such as with a therapist,” Koeppel advised, “not from continually altering one’s body in response to cultural expectations.”