Leg-lengthening surgery gains popularity among men seeking to be taller
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
At 5'7", Alex considered himself short.
The 26-year-old, who asked that his real name not be used to maintain his privacy, said he was sick of insults and jeering comments about his height.
Shorter men "routinely get spoken down to just because of this trait that they can't control," Alex said.
So last January, he got a leg-lengthening operation to increase his height to 5'10".
"My goal was never to be tall. It's to be in a place where no one comments on my height," Alex said.
Leg lengthening is an intense and expensive process but one that has become more popular and accepted in the last five years, according to Dr. Shahab Mahboubian, a surgeon at the Height Lengthening Institute in Burbank, California, who performed Alex's operations.
"I even have 60-, 65-year-old guys that have come to me to undergo the procedure because it just doesn't stop. The 'short' jokes keep going on and they feel inferior," he said.
The $75,000, four-hour operation, which is not generally covered by insurance, involves cutting the thigh bones in each leg and inserting rods inside them. Then over the next three to four months, the rods are lengthened by up to 1 millimeter (0.04 inches) per day, via an external remote control. New bone grows over the rods.
Physical therapy is required: For four months following his surgery, Alex went four to five times per week and used a walker. As he regained his mobility, he switched to using a cane.
The final step of the process is removing the rods. Alex returned for that hourlong procedure a year after the first operation, and his insurance footed the $10,000 bill. In total, Alex estimated the whole process cost him $100,000.
He said he initially dismissed the idea of leg lengthening as "insane," but later decided it would make him happier in his body.
"If all it is, is pain and money, alright," he said.
Mahboubian said he expects to perform 50 stature-lengthening operations this year, more than double the 20 he did three years ago.
Traditionally, leg-extension operations are reconstructive procedures to correct discrepancies in the length of legs, according to Dr. S. Robert Rozbruch, chief of the limb lengthening and complex reconstruction service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
He said that only a small share of the operations he performs are aimed at increasing a patient's height, and those cases usually involve short stature dysphoria, a deep dissatisfaction with one's height.
Rozbruch said that he would not want leg lengthening to be thought of as a quick operation done for cosmetic reasons.
Alex said he felt so distressed by his height before his surgery that at times, he would walk around his neighborhood and cry.
"I went to therapy regarding this to talk about body image issues, but then it always gets followed into, 'Oh, you have body dysmorphia?'" he said. "It's almost the opposite where I'm painfully aware of what the reality of my body is, and I wanted to change it."
In popular culture, Alex added, short men can wind up being a punchline for jokes.
"Body shaming is wrong, but there's like a little asterisk of like, 'unless you're short,'" he said. "It seems like almost the one unchangeable trait that is just accepted as a societal punching bag."
Even references to "short kings" — a term used in modern dating for men of short stature who are confident and attractive but might otherwise be overlooked due to their height — seem mocking and backhanded, Alex said.
Alex before and after his leg-lengthening surgery next to Dr. Shahab Mahboubian.Courtesy Dr. Mahboubian
Dr. David Frederick, an associate professor of psychology at Chapman University in Southern California, studies body image satisfaction. In a 2006 study, he found that whereas just 26% of shorter men were satisfied with their height, 87% of tall men were happy with their height.
"When it's such an intense, persistent feeling that it impacts your daily functioning in daily life, it becomes an issue," he said.
A study published last year examined the relationship between height and dating preferences among heterosexual people in the U.S., Canada, Cuba and Norway. The results suggested that men preferred shorter women and women preferred taller men relative to both their own heights and the averages in their countries.
Some research also suggests there are economic benefits to being tall. A 6-foot person was predicted to earn $166,000 more than a 5'5" person over a 30-year career, a 2004 study found.
Writer Malcolm Gladwell polled half the companies on the Fortune 500 list about the height of their CEOs in 2005 and found that 58% were taller than 6 feet, even though just 14% of American men are that tall.
A combination of factors likely explains the CEO trend, Frederick said: Taller stature is sometimes associated with dominance, but it's also indicative that someone grew up with "more resources and wealth."
Although leg-lengthening surgery comes with risks, including nerve injury and a loss of range of motion, the procedure is safe as long as it's done by experienced surgeons, according to Rozbruch.
Two months have passed since Alex's second operation, and he said he no longer frets about his height.
"The recovery is behind me and I feel incredible," he said.
But Alex added that he is wary of recommending the surgery to others, since that would imply that shorter men should change. Instead, he said, the societal pressures to be taller are the problem.
"No one should feel the need to do this," he said.
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On second thought, nevermind...
tom cruise would be able to do some westerns now...
All of Tom's exes figure his short stature was why he was such a jerk.
Met Mimi once and that was her theory.
Impressive. Tricking the natural bone repair functions of the human body to effectively extend the length of bone.
I wonder if a 5'10" height would have obviated 5'7" Putin's need to invade Ukraine.
That's what impresses me.
Do you think Putin has a Napoleon Complex?
Seems likely.
Little big man syndrome..............Yep!!
But I did love the movie.
Was 6'5" back in my youth. Had a hard time finding pants long enough.
Due to gravity and some hard living I'm probably not even 6'2" now.
The most dangerous fighters I ever fought were around 5'10".
Bruce Lee was 5'8" and could kick the top of Kareem Abdul Jabbar's basketball rim.
Why anybody would go through that pain and suffering is beyond my understanding.
Guess what I wish for every time I am extremely uncomfortable for hours in a cramped airplane or theater seat? It is not longer legs...
This is when the 5'1" gal in front of me decides it is time to recline!
Dated a flat chested 5'1" babe at one time who wanted a boob job.
Finally convinced her that any more than a mouthful was a waste.
The answer is premium economy!
At 6'1", international flights are less than pleasant. Premium economy gives me just enough to enjoy the flight. Just flew back from Paris so this is fresh in my mind.
Indeed. But martial arts tend to level the playing field. Shorter but quicker individuals can mitigate the longer but slower reach of those taller.
Welcome back, ye international traveler! How's Eiffel? And I hope your style was not impacted by public protests over retirement age rising!
The Eiffel tower remains spectacular (albeit not all Parisians would agree with me). Versailles is breathtaking ... you need to experience it since pictures do not do it justice. The Louvre is beyond impressive but the crowds almost ruined the experience.
Paris (France in general) has routine protests ... the locals consider it normal. The locals also appear to be quite pissed off with president Macron (retirement age) and mayor of Paris Hidalgo (trying to force the city green rather than taking a more evolutionary approach). We saw no actual protests but did see roadies setting up what seemed to be a protest.
The trash problem has been resolved. Also, Paris is currently under major cleanup in preparation for the 2024 Olympics so they are (among other things) power washing all the buildings. Paris is starting to look incredible ... the white marble, etc. of the buildings is now showing instead of soot. Wonderful to see this.
I would love to see Versailles. It has to be spectacular
So glad your trip was not ruined by anything. Your words sound like those of a man who had a ball! Which has to be what you wished for this to be! Vive la Paris!
It is; especially the grounds.
As Mel Brooks said: "It's good to be the king"
( Unless you are Louis XVI )
As Tom Petty said:
Lol ..... WTF?
Totally agree. I'm currently recovering from a broken femur, no way I'm voluntarily getting my legs broken and then pay for it
I wonder what the failure rate is for this bizarre procedure.
I wonder what the percentage of these patients who are woefully unprepared for retirement is.
As an accountant, I can tell you, a LOT.
I wear my retirement fund on my wrist. Best investment I ever made!
Nothing like an in-demand vintage Rolex to see you through hard times.
That is so 'crazy' (admiring chuckle). Good it is a small town setting. Or that could really be 'rist-ky! (See what I did there?)
Exactly, one leg was a success and the other a failure.
The 26-year-old, who asked that his real name not be used to maintain his privacy, said he was sick of insults and jeering comments about his height.
Holy crap. We are doomed as a species. I’m shorter than this snowflake and have never been treated like that.
The $75,000, four-hour operation, which is not generally covered by insurance, involves cutting the thigh bones in each leg and inserting rods inside them.
Not generally?! When should this elective snowflake surgery EVER be covered by insurance?! Can you imagine that some dude with a height complex is getting an elective surgery covered by insurance while millions of poor families are going bankrupt trying to afford life saving medications for their sick children?
I feel like this is an article written by a surgeon trying to increase his business in a self-obsessed world. I also can’t help thinking that you’d end up looking like a freak whose legs are too long for your torso.
Lol so these short people identify as tall people and want some sort of transheight medical care to become their desired size. It's obviously a mental illness and legislatures should pass laws against them getting this medical care.
The height you are is in the genetics, live with it.
Don't say that. Recently, I have been literally 'startled' by encounters with Mexican couples, plural, while out shopping. You know where you are looking around and you notice folks and then you . . . notice something. The men are really 'terribly' short. Potentially just denying the classification line of dwarfish.
It is a terrible way to go through life! It leads to self-consciousness. Indeed, I know one such white man who is 'so' and does not drive but instead has written a 'skinny' bicycle for the past ten years or more! He does not drive and then it 'hit' me: Maybe he can't reach the pedals and see over the dash?
That made me very sad for him.
That is terrible.
I remember administering a test date/setup to a woman and it broke my heart. . . when she walked through the door. . . she appeared to be a miniature 'adult' - a little person but all proportions equal. She was trying to come 'up' in the world -no pun intended. But, her height was the ultimate distraction even for me who can overlook a great many things. To look down at her disoriented me each time I did so. She was just so 'smallish' and talking to me and . . . I held it together. She did not get into class and it 'hurt' me even more. She was so dejected by failure.
Don't say that short stature is a mental issue. In a society that prizes height, its a deficit in its own right to be minimally 'tall.'
CB you may have missed the Lol at the beginning of my comment. Unless of course your response was also in jest
Sorry, I don't understand "LOL" to be the same as a sarcasm tag. I must have missed that discussion. But, thanks a lot for the information.
No probs
I'm 5'7" and I've dated guys that were my size. Although I don't have a hang-up with it, I know some women do. Sadly, we are a superficial society, hence all the plastic surgery going on with young girls.
I went on a blind date a dozen or so years ago and during dinner she told me she only seriously dated men over 6 feet tall. standing at 5'10" and immediately realizing the inevitable with nothing to lose, I told her that I seemed a lot taller when I was on my back. as I recall, it was still daylight when I got home. my bff's wife never attempted to set me up again. win/win
I remember the 'one' about the (big) stomach that turns to 'pipe' at night. Okay, I couldn't stop laughing when I heard that one. (He had a really big belly which he was being mocked for.)
saw her at a barbecue last summer. seems she's looking for husband number 3 now...
This is nuts, $75,000 to make you a couple of inches taller what in the hell is wrong with these people?
I'm a bit over 6' I used to be 6' 1'' and a quarter but have shrunk over years and I'm not going to pay to have my legs sawed in half to be 6' 1'' again.
Kavika it is not the same to be 6'1 (I am 5'11) and might like to be 6'4! (I do notice when I am around 6'4 people - I am impressed by their 'presence.' I almost always ask the person how tall they are!)
One thing: I am noticing that as I get older . . . bending to wipe up a coffee 'puddle' with a towel or bending to pick up something on the floor requires me to pause and think about it, because my back does'nt care for the activity as much as my mind wants it to be okay. I have to make 'amends' to an awkward 'giraffe' kind of spread. It is kind of a self-conscious movement.
My dad measured 6'4" all his life, but he stooped over because doorways in those days weren't not meant for tall men. When he died he actually measured 6'5"
He intimidated my dates
All the males in our family are over 6' and some of the females are as well. My daughter is 6' 1''...
wow...
I have noticed that the younger generations seem to be considerably taller.
I am told that I am 5'10 these days (some shrinkage), but I am sticking with 5'11 from my youth!
6.4 is a 'substantially impressive' height. ("Goldilocks" in appearance anyway to me.)
Genetics aside, it could be due in part to better overall nutrition, but I suspect that growth hormones given to the animals we consume have a larger impact on both height and weight.
I don't know if altering plant genetics has an impact on height/weight.
I think it is indeed a function of what we are eating.
I've lost half an inch somewhere along the way too...
In my favorite film of 1998, Black Cat White Cat, a Serbian romp of really bad teeth and oil smuggling, the village dwarf (a charming vixen) meets the next village's giant (a knuckle dragger with charming grunts) and it's everlasting rotting teeth, lust 'n love.
As the song goes, "Love is Strange ..."
This is one of my favorite tellings. I loved 'Arthur' with Dudley Moore. His laughter in the movie is infectious. I love everything about that movie including Ms. Liza Minnelli! I remember when Dudley Moore died it came out that he was self-conscious about his height his whole life. I would have never noticed it from his art!
Another medical practice that should be severely restricted, if not banned. This is nothing more than exploitation for profit.
Empathy is called for in each individual situation. Try to understand the plight of people who live chronically with short (diminutive) height. Because in the conservative non-pc world- the jokes and mocking runs the gambit.