Korea Beat, as part of a new cross-posting venture with Feet Man Seoul, a site dedicated to street fashion in Seoul, has translated a story on the rising popularity of calf-reducing surgery for women who want slimmer legs.

Obviously, many women want to have slim legs, but it’s taking care of your calves that is especially important for women who do stand-up work. Standing all day thickens your calves, because you’re constantly pumping your calf muscles. When the weather starts getting hot, short skirts and pants come into fashion — and along with them, the anguish of women who work on their feet all day long.

Well, short skirts are in fashion in Korea all year long, really. But the point is well taken. I’ve often wondered if wearing high-heels, and even, running in high heels as I sometimes see women in Korea doing, builds an inordinate amount of muscle in the calves. This article suggests it does.

Cases of thick calves can be grouped three ways — an excessive accumulation of fat; thickening due to both fat and muscle; and finally, an excess of muscle alone. It is possible to get thick calves through too much exercise, but it also happens when you work while standing all day in high heels. Wearing such shoes and then standing for a long time creates a synergy effect in your body because that situation stimulates the production of muscle. The women’s jobs which create the most stress over thick calves are stewardess, teacher, clerk, and narrator model. Because there are so many situations which can create calf thickening, normal liposuction alone cannot solve the problem, but removing muscle can. Because exercise and dieting cannot reduce thick calves, it can be seen that an operation to reduce the amount of muscle is unavoidable.

Hmm. So big calves come to fruition due to jobs where women wear high heels and are on their feet much of the day. Yet, to get rid of said calves a doctor must remove parts of the calf muscle. Sounds like a ticking time bomb to me.

Previous methods of reducing calf size had the drawback of causing nerve damage which impeded exercise or had other side effects, including relapses and asymmetry, but new surgeries safely remove only muscle. The surgery can remove inner and outer muscle, and its semi-permanent maintenance is a strong point. Also, only local anaesthesia is required and once the swelling subsides a week or two later you can see the results immediately.

On the gross out meter I say the Kankle Be Gone surgery is just above rib removal, and below the tongue elongating surgery that enables Koreans to better pronounce “l” and “r.”