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The use of waist trainers and corsets by plus-size young ladies to achieve an hour-glass figure is actually doing more harm to their body than good.

It has emerged that the tight corset and waist trainers can prevent flow of blood to the heart, which can affect blood pressure and may result in dizziness and even blackouts.

Commenting on the issue, Dr James Boachie, a Specialist Gynaecologist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, told Weekend Finder that forcing the ribs and muscles into a tight and restrictive garment can cause chronic pain and bruising. 

He was quick to add that even though he has not come across any study that provides empirical evidence that wearing of waist trainers can harm a woman’s reproductive health, constricting the midsection of the body could potentially harm some internal organs that reside in that region.

“In actual fact, there is nothing wrong in wearing a girdle or corset to help one to be in shape to wear a dress, but if you wear it too tight, you are going to hurt yourself,” he warned.

As to whether it really reduces a wearer’s waist permanently when worn consistently, Dr James Boachie said he has not come across any study to that effect.

While Ghanaian celebrities like Beverly Afaglo and Princess Shyngle have become proponents of waist training to reduce the size of their midsections, many share the concern that the constricting garments can be dangerous to women’s health. 

The new trendy practice involves wearing a corset-like garment for hours at a time to compress your core, which is believed to supposedly decrease the size of your waist permanently over time. This has made most plus-size girls to jump on the waist training bandwagon.

The theory behind waist training is that the waist will begin to conform to the rigid shape of the garment. 

Over time, the hope is the body will maintain that shape, and inches will be lost, creating a leaner and slimmer appearance. 

However, there is no evidence to show that this change will remain permanent when the wearer stops using the garment. There is also the theory that the stomach will be squeezed into a smaller shape, causing less hunger and less overall intake of calories, with weight loss as a result. But there is no clinical proof that this is effective or beneficial to a woman.  

Some experts generally agree that there’s no way it can really work—and it might do real bodily harm. 

“Medically, it doesn’t make sense that cinching your waist tightly will make it permanently smaller,” says Dr Mary Jane Minkin, Clinical Professor of Ob-gyn at Yale School of Medicine. "Once you take the garment off, your body will return to its usual shape. It’s also uncomfortable, restricts your movements, and if you wear it really tight, it can even make it difficult to breathe and theoretically could cause rib damage.”

Believers say that the tightness of the garment makes you sweat a lot, but it’s really not possible to perspire so much that you shave inches off her midsection in any permanent way. 

Dr Nicole Florence, Co-medical Director of Memorial Weight Loss and Wellness Centre in the Unites States, who spoke about the issue some time back, said putting pressure on the internal organs was a serious health concern. “If the lungs are prevented from properly expanding, it can increase risk of pneumonia. As the stomach and colon are prevented from moving its contents, heartburn and chronic constipation can occur.”