[mochaccino]

You do have to do some maintenance long term. You also have to reduce your waist size by at least 25- 30% in order for the change to last a really long time, but it's still not literally permanent. I've been told that, once you reach that level of reduction, when you remove your corset it will spring back by 4-6 inches almost immediately, leaving you with about a 12% reduction. Supposedly you can maintain a 12% reduction without a corset for around 3 days. After that the waist expands very, very gradually, and by the end of a month you might still have a reduction of about an inch or so. Over the course of several months, it will always go back to the original size, unless you started corseting at an extremely young age before the floating ribs harden. That doesn't mean you can't get any "permanence" at all from smaller amount of reduction, or less dedicated corseting. You can, but it won't be as dramatic and wost last as long.