Breast implant
Since the late nineteenth century, breast implants have been used to surgically augment the size (volume), modify the shape (contour), and enhance the feel (tact) of a woman's breasts. In 1895, surgeon Vincenz Czerny effected the earliest breast implant emplacement when he used the patient's autologous adipose tissue, harvested from a benign lumbar lipoma, to repair the asymmetry of the breast from which he had removed a tumor. In 1889, surgeon Robert Gersuny experimented with paraffin injections, with disastrous results.
Breast ironing
A recent rise in the incidence of breast ironing has been attributed to the earlier onset of puberty, caused by dietary improvements in Cameroon over the last 50 years. Half of Cameroonian girls who develop under the age of nine have their breasts ironed, and 38% of those who develop before eleven. Additionally, since 1976, the percentage of women married by the age of 19 has decreased from nearly 50% to 20%, leading to an increasingly long gap between childhood and marriage. The later age of marriage may be due to changed social norms that allow girls and women to attend school through university and to hold jobs in the formal sector. Women who delay marriage in pursuit of education and career can procure the corresponding benefit of financial independence later in life, whereas girls who become pregnant are often forced to drop out of school and forgo formal employment.