What is a cankle? The Urban Dictionary lists numerous definitions and any one of them will give you a chuckle. For example:
The seamless blend of the calf into the ankle. accomplished by inflammation, obesity, athleticism or a combination of the three. The affected leg takes on the shape of summer sausage with a human foot at the end. There is no definition of the calf because it is obscured most often by fat which spills down over the ankle, hiding it, and causing a cankle to form.
and this one:
The area in affected female legs where the calf meets the foot in an abrupt, nontapering terminus; medical cause: adipose tissue surrounding the soleus tendon, probably congenital, worsened by weight gain and improved in appearance only by boots.
The definitions may be funny, but cankles are no laughing matter. The “cankle” condition is attributed mostly to women, although men suffer cankles in equal numbers. Men are less singled out – I suspect because tree trunk-like lower extremities in men are gratefully hidden beneath trouser legs. Women can fly under the cankle radar by wearing pants 24/7 or, as the definition above sites, by wearing boots (again 24/7).
But seriously, isn’t there something (other than outerwear) to improve the look of cankles?
At Changes Plastic Surgery & Spa in San Diego, Gilbert Lee, M.D. gives hope to cankle sufferers by performing circumferential liposuction of the calf and ankle area.
The procedure takes about 2 ½ hours and it works. There is significant swelling, however, and because of the time involved, it is not a cheap procedure. But for those men and women tired of choosing their wardrobe based on cankle concealment, no amount of time or money will stand in the way.
Want to learn more about liposuction and other plastic surgery procedures? Contact us.
