How to decide whether to go through with leg lengthening procedure

Leg lengthening or limb lengthening procedure represents the only real viable way to increase a person's height once their growth plates have fused. Up until the growth plates fuse, it is still possible to get taller naturally or through growth hormone induced stimulation.

Some desperate people will resort to this procedure to get taller because they feel highly insecure about their current stature. Leg lengthening can increase a person's height anywhere from 3-6 inches or so. A more common figure is in the region of 3-4 inches.

Who is this procedure for?

In most cases, the practising surgeon will only consider having it done on people that suffer the mental and physical anguish of dwarfism. Increasing their height by a few inches would allow them to do everyday things more easily. The procedure would be deemed to satisfy their needs to get taller and providing them with the comfort of being more “normal”.

However, there have been many cases where it has also been carried out on people that were of comfortable height. For them, it was more of a cosmetic issue i.e. wanting to become average height. It is now also carried out on people that are of good height and would not be considered a dwarf by any stretch of the imagination. Many surgeons make exceptions and allow people that are even, say, 5.6-5.8 inches tall to seek a few extra inches. After all, they are in it to make money and it would not be economical from their standpoint to just reject everyone deemed tall enough.

How is the procedure carried out?

The surgeon will cut through leg bone and insert a metal to reconnect the bones. The metal will create a gap where new bone will form and, in time, the bones will adjoin and form a single leg bone. This can be done because of the way bones heal. The surgeon will cut the bones in the femur and shin. Once the procedure is complete, the leg bone will be several inches longer than it was prior to the procedure thus providing several inches in height gain.

Time and cost

As you can imagine, this surgery requires significant time and cost. In terms of time, you are looking at being incapacitated i.e. waiting for the bone to heal and recuperating for several months at least.

Although this might result in guaranteed height increase of several inches, the downside of this procedure is nothing to sniff at. Unfortunately, there are significant risks associated with this procedure that can make even people that are desperate to get the extra height reconsider.

It can be extremely painful, and in some cases it can be debilitating for the patient throughout his life, so for some individuals, its not just the pain during and right after the procedure but long after it as well.

Fortunately, not all patients feel that way, as most of these procedures are a success. Hence it is quite widely carried out. However, the line between what can be termed a success and a failure is quite fine, which makes it all the more important that a big decision such as this is not rushed into and thoroughly researched prior to going under the surgeon's knife.

Here are some important considerations that anyone considering limb lengthening:

• Do not compromise on the quality. It is vital any patient that has leg lengthening chooses the best surgeon that he could afford. Some people will go to a different part of the world because of the huge cost savings on offer. You should take extra precautions when going abroad because some facilities providing limb lengthening are not as experienced as they would make out. Also, they are not likely to provide the health/medial insurance cover that you will get at home.

• If you are of good height and want to have the procedure for cosmetic reasons, it might not be worthwhile because of the pain involved and the possible side effects.

• Since this is such major surgery, you may want to talk to your family and friends. You will also need to consider the possible effects of suddenly getting several inches taller. How would people who are familiar react to you on seeing your sudden height increase. For example, it might be easier if you used shoe lifts or something like that to achieve several inches, which will make it easier to avoid detection.

Cost

This is an extremely expensive procedure. A patient having it done in the USA will need to spend anywhere close to $200,000. This price is inclusive e of the procedure itself and the accommodation while recuperating and waiting for the bone to heal. gor the procedure alone.

If those figures scare you way, then you will be glad to know that it can cost 30-50% less in some other parts of the world. This is why some patients from America decide to travel abroad get their legs lengthened. Before packing your bags, you will need to weigh up the benefits and costs of having it one abroad.

• There are good limb lengthening clinics in various parts of the world, notably Russia – in many ways the pioneers of such procedures- and Italy. Both countries are significantly cheaper. Make sure you fully research clicnics abroad on their legibility, their experience, etc.