The Student Room Group

Funnel Chest - Serious problem...

I am so embarrassed about my funnel chest.
When I was young I didn't realize that I had it. I had always been going to swimming pool with friends, taking my shirt off without any embarrassment.
No one seemed to look at me in a weird way. I even flirted with many girls. Everything looked good. But one day I noticed that my chest wasn't as straight as other people (The hole is 1cm deep).
It looked weird... I browsed the internet to find out what is it. Then I realized that I have "pectus excavatum". The very news wasn't good. My confidence did slump dramatically.
When summer came I didn't go to swimming pool having some excuses. I've never been to swimming pool again. I thought about having surgery, but it would eliminate me from
starting in running (I'm really good at it even though my chest has less capacity than the others) for 2 years or even longer.
At school, during PE, I try to hide it, but not always I can do it. My friends used to laught at the beginning, but now they understand it and respect.
Since the start of being aware of my chest I've had many possibilities to have a girlfriend, but I always ended contact early.
I'd like to have a girlfriend, but when I look at my chest and think that she will be disappointed by my chest and will dump me.
At the moment I see that there are 3 girls which are into me, but I don't want to disappoint any of them... So I stay aside.

So the question is... Would you respect funnel-chest person, like me, as any other person? And, the most important question for girls, Would you date such person?

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Reply 1
I dont get it.
woah, i knew a person like that at primary school. his was really deep (from what I remember)
Reply 3
Its more common than you think, don't worry about it.

Failing that let your chest hair grow to hide it.
yeah man its great my friend has a hole in his chest and its the perfect beer holder! and also he eats ice cream out of it when hes laying down etc. perfect bowl for food and stuff when your lying down, im jelous i want one!

oh and its not uncommon i know loads of people with it :smile: most people dont even think about it
Reply 5
A good friend of mine had a serious case of Pectus Excavatum. It didn't seem to bother him that much; he seemed to enjoy the attention from it! But doctors said there could be health risks (reduced lung capacity I think) and so he had a bar put in to correct it, which has now been taken out. He's had a fair few operations, and it has caused him some pain, but I think his chest is more or less fixed now. The pain was partly caused by something going slightly wrong in one operation, I *think*, though I'm not sure about that. He had to have some implants put in after the bar came out, which we all find quite funny!

Don't bother yourself too much about it; it's not that big a deal, but if you really want to you can get it fixed.
My ex boyfriend had one, he could almost hide a tennis ball in it.
Reply 7
if i liked a guy, it wouldn't bother me at all.

moving on, can i please point out the humour in
"she will be disappointed by my chest and will dump me."

so it's not just a girl problem...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectus_excavatum

omg :eek:

i'd be ******* shocked if i saw that if i'm going to be honest with you OP without being offensive since you did ask
Reply 9
My ex-boyfriend had a fairly noticeable but not medically significant pectus excavatum. Never bothered me. It's the sort of thing that is far more likely to get you teased if people see you are bothered by it.

I have it myself, but it's less obvious cos I have boobs.

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pectus_excavatum

omg :eek:

i'd be ******* shocked if i saw that if i'm going to be honest with you OP without being offensive since you did ask

That's a very extreme example. Most people do not have it that badly.
Reply 10
It's like this one, but a bit smaller (here is 2-3cm deep, i've got about 1cm...)


Yeah... I can't hide a tennis ball there. But It really seem disgusting!!!
Friends say that I'm weird, because i'm never ill (really!), but I've got a hole in my chest... Weird...
Helenia

That's a very extreme example. Most people do not have it that badly.

ah right fair enough

Helenia
pectus excavatum

Only a medic would use that term, show off :p:
Reply 12
One of my mates has the same thing, and he doesn't give a crap, even though the hole is about 3cm not 1.
He does loads of bodybuilding which probably doesn't help that, but does draw attention away from it.
just make up a war story to go with it. i dont know, perhaps when you were younger you saw a bunch of people rioting and thought it looked fun. you were then shot by the riot squad with one of those beanbag bullets (jackass- the movie).

you dont have to go with that particular story though. perhaps you were jousting as a youngster and the lance caught you in the chest?
Reply 14
Its pretty normal, i have this slightly and my brothers always take the piss out of my because of it (no one else notices it though). One of my friends has one much worse though, he can seriously eat a bowl of coco pops of of it.

I wouldn't worry, most people don't care and i don't really think any female is going to care, If you're really self conscious though, perhaps you could do a bit of work in the gym on your pecs, you might be able to 'push them out' so it looks less funnelly.
Reply 15
Joluk
Its pretty normal, i have this slightly and my brothers always take the piss out of my because of it (no one else notices it though). One of my friends has one much worse though, he can seriously eat a bowl of coco pops of of it.

I wouldn't worry, most people don't care and i don't really think any female is going to care, If you're really self conscious though, perhaps you could do a bit of work in the gym on your pecs, you might be able to 'push them out' so it looks less funnelly.


Working on them makes it worse. More muscle around there = bigger dip.
Reply 16
I do swim (as my doctor recommended) and run, but It does not work...
I tried to work in the gym, but it didn't work as well...
I have had this all my life and I have never had a problem with it. No one ever takes the piss- and freakily- I get wht you mean -I'm hardly ever ill either (touch wood) I dont suspect it has any medical probalems associated with it so why worry. Mine is at least 3 cm deep and my rib stick out like anything- but I dont give a damn how it looks, cos I know that it doesn't matter, as long as you have a good personality why would anyone dump you on the basis of a small chest deformity?
Reply 18
Pfft, why would it matter? The people who judge you for it are the type of people you wouldn't really want to hang out with. My boyfriend has one and it doesn't bother me at all - same with my friend and her bf.
Reply 19
I don't think that it's going to put people off, especially if it is only a small indentation. As previous posters have pointed out - it is quite common.