Carson Sudbeck, a teenager living in Iowa, had accepted his concave chest. He was born with it and it wasn’t that noticeable when he was younger. As he grew up, it became more prominent. No doctor had ever really commented on it.
One day he was scrolling on TikTok and stumbled upon a post that talked about corrective surgery. This changed his perspective and gave him a diagnosis of sorts, pectus excavatum. His parents took some convincing but they eventually came around. Carson got the surgery and is already feeling better because of it. He opened up about his experience to People magazine.
Carson, 16, had a good sense of humor about his chest. “As I grew, the hole also grew — to the point where it was very obvious I had a caved-in chest,” he explained. His mom Emily Sudbeck recalled his jokes about it. "He'd say, 'It's not quite deep enough for a bowl of cereal — it's more of a chips and dip holder,'" she said.
This all changed when Carson got some new information. “I was scrolling through TikTok and a video showed a guy talking about it," he explained. "He showed an illustration of a chest that looked like mine and said he'd had surgery to fix it." A seed was planted in Carson’s mind.
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Carson did more research and learned the name of his condition, pectus excavatum. He also learned it could lead to health issues such as fatigue, shortness of breath, lowered stamina, chest pain, and arthritis. He had already experienced shortness of breath when playing sports and had back pain. He wanted to do something about it before it got worse.
"I was like, 'I already got back pain,'" he recalled. "I read enough. I was like, 'I'll probably just get this fixed.'"
First Carson had to convince his parents. His mom Emily was understandably skeptical of information from TikTok at first. "I rolled my eyes," Emily recalled. "I was like, 'Carson, you do know that not everything on the internet is true?'"
Carson didn’t give up without a fight. “I went back and did some more research,” he explained. "The more research I did, the more I told them, 'It’s not just for aesthetics, it has health benefits for lung capacity and blood flow.'" Carson’s parents were concerned about elective surgery that could be unnecessary.
Eventually, Carson asked his primary care doctor about it. “I’ve looked at getting my chest fixed,” he told them. “And without hesitation, the doctor just said, 'Okay. Yeah. It's pretty prominent. I’ll give you a referral right away,'” Emily remembered. “I was kind of shocked that it was that simple.”
Emily felt bad that she didn’t do anything about Carson’s chest sooner. "I left that appointment feeling a lot of emotions," she recalled. "I felt I had failed him as a parent because I hadn't done something sooner, or hadn't recognized it."
Dr. Robert Cusick, a pediatric surgeon at Children’s Nebraska, was happy to help Carson. He has performed this surgery around 275 times. “This is more common than people realize,” Dr. Cusick explained. “It’s not just cosmetic — there’s growing evidence that it really impairs heart and lung function.”
Carson went under the knife on January 10, 2024. During his procedure, Dr. Cusick inserted two stainless steel bars in the middle of his chest to evaluate it. He also performed a cryoablation. This freezes eight nerves and numbs the region for three to six months.
Carson is thrilled with the results. Looking in the mirror right after surgery, he was pleased. “That’s my dream,” he gushed. “I look normal."
Recovery from surgery was not always easy. The first week he “could barely stand up and get out of bed. Then every week I got a lot better.” Two weeks post surgery, he was back at school. One month after surgery, he was running in a couple of track events. He is looking forward to the day that there are no physical restrictions on him.
Carson can already see the positive results. "My posture is better. My voice is better," he explained. He has big plans to impress the ladies this summer at the pool with his new bod.
*Disclaimer: The advice on LittleThings.com is not a substitute for consultation with a medical professional or treatment for a specific condition. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem without consulting a qualified professional. Please contact your health-care provider with questions and concerns.
