I often have patients after NUSS complaining of a particular discomfort, namely a feeling of constriction in the thorax. In the early stage, the patient may feel that the area where the plate is placed sinks downward and inward, and there is a feeling of a band. In the later stages, some patients may even feel that their lungs are not breathing well and that they are not able to stretch their lungs under pressure. One friend described it as the feeling of wearing “shackles”. He said that the shackles are on the outside of the body, while the plates are in the flesh, and both feel almost the same, making it unpleasant and helpless. Another friend told me last night that the sensation seriously affected his breathing and he could hardly sleep. The basic principle of the surgery is to use a steel plate to hold up a depressed chest wall. To hold up the depression, a fulcrum must be found for the plate, which will become the strong bearing point. At the end of the surgery, the chest beneath the plate becomes the focal point and is therefore under great pressure. In pediatric patients, the chest wall is soft and the fulcrum is not strong enough, so there is often a sinking of the fulcrum area. This is the root cause of the constraint sensation in most patients. As the patient’s thorax continues to develop, the plate itself does not widen, which makes the feeling of constraint more and more pronounced. Although the patient may gradually adapt to this sensation, it cannot be completely eliminated unless the plate is removed. In adult patients, the thorax beneath the plate is sufficiently stiff to keep from sinking, but adults tend to have more psychological trouble than children. While children can easily forget or ignore the feeling of constraint, adults have difficulty. This causes many adults to experience more severe troubles after surgery. So, what can be done to eliminate this abnormal feeling? One of the most important things is to understand the mechanism of the sensation and not to be frightened by wild suspicions. Several patients have told me nervously, “Oh no, I suspect that the plate has punctured my lung, and I feel very uncomfortable breathing. Should I take the plate out right away?” This is obviously the reason for being too nervous. Once a steel plate is placed in the body, it usually takes about three years to remove it. This makes it impossible to eliminate some of the discomfort easily. But to have an aesthetically pleasing chest, there must be a cost. This sensation may be one of the many important costs. The increasing number of beautiful women on the street today seems to be the result of biological evolution, but in reality they have all become beautiful after going under the knife. Being stabbed is the price. Today’s technology has not yet advanced to the advanced stage of communism, the treatment of funnel chest can not be infinitely better. How many patients would really refuse to wear “shackles” if they could eliminate the depression in front of their chest? Think about the flower-like face of grandmother Liu Xiaoqing, my friend, even if you really wear the “shackles” for three years, what is the harm?