This might interest some of you. I have pectus excavatum, I had known about the surgical procedures which sounded drastic given my relatively mild pectus. I only recently heard about the vacuum bell which seemed an excellent solution. However the cost seems exorbitant, so I decided to make my own. It's working nicely so far and there's a visible improvement.
I used a sheet of perspex, about 5mm thick, drill a 19mm hole in the centre, the vacuum is provided by a vacuvin wine preserver, care is needed here as this can produce a very strong vacuum which can damage the skin.
The body of the bell is made from this stuff click here it's fairly stiif silicone so the walls can be made quite thin. I made the walls far too thick as I hadn't used the stuff before and was worried it was going to be too soft.
Sand the perspex a little to make a rough surface for the silicone to grip to.
I made the mould out of cardboard cereal packet as the laminted outer surface is handily water proof. Use standard silicone bathroom sealant to seal the cardboard to the perspex base.
Once you've poured the silicone mould and it's set, remove the carboard and use more sealant around the inner and outer contact surface with the perspex and the bell silicone pulls away fairly easily, the sealant will hold it nicely.
Here's the tricky bit, depending on the shape of your chest you may have to cut the silicone to get a good seal, due to years of gym work trying and failing to pull my chest out with exercise I have well developed pecs and had to make cut outs to accomodate them.
Abit of trial and error may be needed but it works. Again be careful with the vacuvin, you can create a powerful vacuum.
Mould Freshly poured silicone Finished product
I used a sheet of perspex, about 5mm thick, drill a 19mm hole in the centre, the vacuum is provided by a vacuvin wine preserver, care is needed here as this can produce a very strong vacuum which can damage the skin.
The body of the bell is made from this stuff click here it's fairly stiif silicone so the walls can be made quite thin. I made the walls far too thick as I hadn't used the stuff before and was worried it was going to be too soft.
Sand the perspex a little to make a rough surface for the silicone to grip to.
I made the mould out of cardboard cereal packet as the laminted outer surface is handily water proof. Use standard silicone bathroom sealant to seal the cardboard to the perspex base.
Once you've poured the silicone mould and it's set, remove the carboard and use more sealant around the inner and outer contact surface with the perspex and the bell silicone pulls away fairly easily, the sealant will hold it nicely.
Here's the tricky bit, depending on the shape of your chest you may have to cut the silicone to get a good seal, due to years of gym work trying and failing to pull my chest out with exercise I have well developed pecs and had to make cut outs to accomodate them.
Abit of trial and error may be needed but it works. Again be careful with the vacuvin, you can create a powerful vacuum.
Mould Freshly poured silicone Finished product
