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SALT LAKE CITY — The struggle is real. Our mothers and grandmothers dealt with it, too. It's all about maintaining that hourglass figure.
No one likes to talk about what's going on underneath, but a few brave women opened their closets.
"For me, it's a smoother silhouette," said Ainsley, a mother of four in Salt Lake City. "It just kind of sucks everything in."
Once a cheerleader at the U., Ainsley sometimes wears shapewear.
"I wanted a family picture when she was little, but I definitely was working on some baby weight, so I just slipped those Spanx on there."
It's big business. According to Forbes, Spanx is valued at $1 billion.
Asia Dutson, mom of six, wears them all day with certain dresses.
"If I had my high school body now, oh yeah, for sure," she said.
As a jewelry designer, she molds rings into dazzling designs. In a way, she does the same thing with her body; shapes it with compression clothing.
"They actually come up right under my bustline and come down on my thighs," she said.
But her kids love her as-is and she said they tell her, "'Mom, just love your six-kid body,' and I'm like, 'Don't put it that way!'"
Life has thrown Dutson a curveball or two, and her weight and size have fluctuated, she said.
"After the divorce, that changed it. Hormones changed it," she said.
Dr. Howard Sharp, an OB-GYN at University Hospital said shapewear for short periods of time is fine for most people. "If it makes you feel well that counts," he said.
But there are some health risks you won't find on the label.
"As we know from Newton's third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, so it's going to push something somewhere else," he said.
Women with acid reflux might find it makes it worse.
"And also going the other direction. Some women have issues with pressure from having children and sometimes they'll have pelvic organ prolapse."
That's when the muscles that hold pelvic organs in place weaken or stretch from childbirth or surgery. The pressure can worsen symptoms.
"For the folks that sweat more than others, there's a little bit of a risk of folliculitis," he said.
Translation? A bacterial or fungal infection that causes a rash.
And wearing tight clothing can also cause temporary nerve damage, doctors say. An article in the 2015 issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry found a 35-year-old woman who wore skinny jeans while helping a family move had severe ankle weakness and numbness. It was so bad she fell.
So how long is too long to wear shapewear? Doctors say if you're experiencing any negative symptoms, take them off. It's just not worth it.
Also making a comeback is the modern corset, also known as a waist-trainer, made famous by Kim Kardashian. A website that sells them recommended wearing the waist-trainer a couple hours a day or while working out and promised to slim people down two sizes, with diet and exercise.
But does it work? Sharp is skeptical.
"Nothing's for free," he said. And any results are fleeting. "Very temporary because once you take it off, it's going to go back."
Ainsley and Dutson said they'll keep on wearing shapewear knowing the health risks. Doctors say there's no harm for most women who wear them occasionally. They're more concerned about prolonged daily wear. But if they're causing you pain or discomfort, don't wear them.
