As everybody’s needs are different and every body is different too, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to aesthetic surgery.
You cannot walk into a Harley Street clinic for plastic surgery in London and immediately go under the knife without consultations, discussions with a specialist and examinations to find the right treatment for your needs.
In some cases, such as with the influential bodybuilder, professional wrestler and actress Chyna (Born Joanie Laurer), that can sometimes mean creating a whole new treatment entirely that blazes a trail for other women like her.
Ninth Wonder Of The World
Chyna was a bodybuilder who due to her naturally huge frame would often place poorly in competitions against much smaller women, but would find her biggest success in the world of professional wrestling.
She worked as the bodyguard of the villainous faction D-Generation X in the World Wrestling Federation and battled with men and women alike.
However, she quickly became very popular with men and women alike for her ability to fight men on equal terms with a Wonder Woman-esque amazonian persona, competing at several major events and both winning and defending a men’s championship belt.
She was an innovative trailblazer and one of the WWF’s biggest stars through a remarkably brief four-year stint with the company, but she would also become a pioneer when it came to the world of plastic surgery.
Chyna 2000s
During a wrestling match, one of her breast implants ruptured, necessitating a trip to the hospital. As she had a particularly large frame, even the largest widely available implants of the era were not completely suitable and comfortable for her.
Breast implants at the time were relatively robust, but that was relative to a typical person’s lifestyle. They were not initially designed with bodyslams, suplexes and powerbombs in mind, in other words.
Whilst revealing the somewhat unusual limitations of contemporary breast augmentation, Chyna was also part of the solution, one that whilst designed around her unique frame would create the benchmark for other women of her strength and stature.
At a cost of $6000 at the time (Over £10,000 today adjusted for inflation), Chyna and her plastic surgeon developed the Chyna 2000, a bespoke implant that was designed and marketed with the needs of female bodybuilders and larger women in mind.
This placed her at the forefront of the plastic surgery world, particularly for people who would otherwise have to face uncomfortable or unsuitable augmentations. At one point she described them as “like a real estate investment”.
However, it was not always a smooth road to travel, and the early Chyna 2000s had problems of their own.
The custom prototype Chyna 2000s was unacceptably fragile and burst again, leading to more emergency surgery and altering her wrestling style to try and stop it from happening again, although her departure from the WWF in 2001 and relatively limited in-ring schedule amidst other commitments after that made it a moot point.
Chyna has a long legacy of achievements and shattered several particularly thick glass ceilings for women, but one that should not be forgotten is how she has helped to empower bodybuilders and large-statured women.
