There's a $65 candle inspired by a unique feeling (and it's not love). Scented with bamboo and thyme blossom, it's meant to capture the euphoric sensation of arriving home after a long day and flinging off your bra-move over, Baies, it's all about Braless. That elusive feeling is difficult enough to evoke in a candle, but a surgery? Yet that's what the "internal bra," a procedure that's become more popular in recent years, might bring to mind-perhaps along with the lyrics to Wicked's "Defying Gravity." In actuality, doctors offer more nuance on the subject.
The "internal bra" refers to the process of surgically inserting a material into your body for breast support-sometimes called "mesh" as shorthand, although that's not a scientific term, explains Rady Rahban, MD, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills. A more accurate term might be "scaffolding." Surgeons can find the approach helpful in a variety of breast surgeries, ranging from breast lifts (mastopexies) to reductions, reconstructions, or augmentations, in helping to preserve results for a longer period of time.
"Listen, this is serious, Kathleen," plastic surgeon Bruce Van Natta, MD, tells me over the phone from his office in Indianapolis. "I've got patients in their seventies that we've done breast lifts on, and they don't need to wear a bra." William P. Adams Jr., MD, a Dallas plastic surgeon, adds that while effects are not permanent, adding a so-called internal bra to a breast surgery "probably doubles the length of time that something lasts." Both doctors were part of the initial U.S. pilot program for a substance called GalaFLEX.
This story is from the April 2024 edition of ELLE US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2024 edition of ELLE US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Rebel Hearts
The best fashion is served family style. Model siblings-slash-fashion royalty Lily McMenamy and Eddy and Arthur Aldridge share an unbreakable bond. Here, they team rocker-chic staples with equally timeless Cartier Trinity jewelry.
Nicole Kidman
At Least We Can All Agree On Whether she's confronting the toughest emotions onscreen, raising millions to support women's causes, or putting on a pinstriped suit to help save the movies, the Expats star brings people together.
WOMEN OF IMPACT
Write a poem. Build a business. Use your megaphone with no apologies. As our 2024 honorees show, there are endless ways to make positive change.
Breast Surgery, Augmented
Is \"internal bra\" surgery the stuff that braless dreams are made of?
BRITISH INVASION
Kit Kemp's signature hotel design, a madcap take on English tradition, is taking over New York.
FULL CIRCLE
As Tory Burch celebrates 20 years, her sense of mission is stronger than ever.
CACTUS FLOWER
The minds behind Desserto are spinning the desert plant into (eco-friendly) gold.
MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
A new book gives an inside look at fashion's most ardent archivists, from Michèle Lamy to Azzedine Alaïa.
MORE IS MORE
A maximalist season kicks off with embellished bags, intricately decorated vases, and high-flown takes on ceremonial jewelryas seen here in the medals and aiguillettes of creative director Claire Choisne's latest high jewelry lineup for Boucheron. High Jewelry Collection Histoire de Style, The Power of Couture, Boucheron, boucheron.com.
La Nuova BELLEZA
Confident, sexy, and at the height of the fashion world. Italian supermodel Vittoria Ceretti demonstrates how to dress for seduction in spring's sheer.feminine slipdresses and body-conscious looks from luxury labels in Italy and beyond.