Leg lengthening surgery gone wrong.

I was just going to say this. My legs are a different length and it was discussed stapling my leg as a child to even them out. Thankfully it didn't need to be done, but does mean my gait is a bit wonky and hopefully won't lead to problems as I get older

Yes, I wouldn’t think of surgery in such a case but lots of men do, I think.

I don't even notice I'm short and I've had no one comment on it in the last 38 years - basically since I was at school

I'm not even 5 feet tall.

It's no further from the average female height than you are. Average female height is about 5 ft 5 and used to be 5ft 4. Regardless of your perspective, 5ft 2 is within the range of 'normal' heights for women albeit on the shorter side of normal.

My mistake, not a court case but remember it being in the media.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2233873.stm

Lots of brands don’t have shorter length or have doll sized petite ranges. Getting jeans, trousers, dresses taken up is major faff and expensive. People are so rude about height. I wouldn’t do it but I understand why she did.

I seem to remember a court case (?) a few years ago as a girl wanted this operation so she could be flight crew and didn’t meet the minimum height requirements. Can’t remember what happened in the end. I’m 5’2” and have never had comments.

Achondroplasia runs in my family so I know several people with dwarfism who have been offered this surgery.

Some take it, but not all. It's a painful, lengthy and quite risky process to gain a few inches height at best. It's major surgery and it's not a magic cure.

If many people with dwarfism don't think it's worth it, I think it's really sad that someone of normal height would feel driven to risk it.

i believe the doctor.

A friend had the op on one leg, 30 yrs after a bike accident.

Gruelling procedure and he had to have constant bed rest. Very specific instructions. NHS.

For it to go so wrong…seems a bit suspicious, given that the doc is a pioneer of this surgery (though I recall that a Russian doc was first?).

Exactly. I’m around 5ft 1 and as an Indian woman that’s an average height. I’ve had comments in England but so what? Everyone gets rubbish about their appearance and this woman in the article has a gorgeous face in my opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was bullied by envious colleagues for that rather than height.

In terms of clothes, you tend to find a way to manage!

I'm 5'2 and a half and the only person who ever commented on my height was an ex who was 6'6 😂

Being shorter can be annoying but not to the point that I would ever go through extreme surgery like that.

She also fiddled with the key on one leg, reportedly. It is hard to believe that a clever person would do this, no matter how keen they may have been to accelerate the process.

If she did tamper with the key, then surely that is the reason she ended up with legs of different lengths?

Plus, all has now seemingly been corrected.

Hmmm🤔

I’m a pro at both using another item to flick stuff off top shelves and also shelf climbing in supermarkets. I recently discovered in Tesco for the bottles of pop on the top shelf there’s a hidden handle thing and if the bottles are at the back then pulling the handle moves them all forward.

I can see dark patches on the outside of each leg - just above the knee. It's hard to tell whether they are scars or not.

its been used for years on children who are born with a huge difference in leg length, also sometimes on folk who have leg shortening post trauma. Cosmetically of course if you have got the money........

it was a storyline in Law and Order Special Victims Unit.

No scars on her legs either. Weird, she skips out of court looking mobile, normal, no scars, no limp, and yet the surgeon has to pay her

I didn’t know there was such an operation.

Wow, I'm only 5'1" so although I can understand wanting to be a bit taller, I'd never have risked this. Bones can be weaker in old age anyway, why risk making yourself WEAKER although, clearly, she can walk again now. Her legs must be the same length again now.

Not the point, but if it had worked, she'd have been v out of proportion.

Or a baguette. Baguette are a useful tool!

I'm puzzled by this too - I just asked my partner, who is 5' 1", if she's suffered comments or bullying and she replied "Never".

Didn't affect her career progression either - she became a headteacher.

Well, she practically skipped out of that courtroom!

I'm 4ft 10 and was offered this surgery when I was younger. I didn't have it because the idea of being eg in a wheelchair and immobile for a period of time seemed a lot to go through to be a little bit taller.
There's a lot more to the effects of being tiny that 'just take the legs up' so I completely understand her motivation.

I'm another 5ft 2er! One thing I discovered about petite clothes is that it's not all about the height - the fit depends if you're short in the leg, or the body - or sometimes even in the arms.

So for me, petite trousers are usually too short, and I can get by with standard 'short' or even 'regular' lengths. But I'm shorter in the body, so jumpers/blouses in a petite range (where they're available) work better for me.

Being 5ft 2 (which I am) isn't a problem. The problem is everything else!

It's really tedious having to get everything tailored. The PP who said 'just buy short leg length' – umm, ok, sure, if I only want to shop at Marks & Spencer?! The vast majority of clothes don't come in our lengths, and the proportions are often wrong anyway.

That said, I'd never in a million years opt for such insanely risky (and painful, and expensive) surgery. Awful that she was bullied so badly – I guess that's the culture in banks like Merril Lynch...