Leg lengthening surgery gone wrong.

[Thunderandlightningisfrightening]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13642509/High-flying-5ft-2in-banker-grew-5ft-6in-car-crash-leg-lengthening-surgery-left-one-limb-six-inches-longer-wins-payout-settles-1m-court-case-against-surgeon.html

Why would anyone do this?!?!?

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?).

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 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

5'8 deviates from the norm more than 5'2

But you'd be unlikely to be described as "a bit tall".

Did you ever think about that?!

She's very rich. Having worked with this group in Healthcare they tend to believe money can buy them anything.

Unfortunately there are often health professionals around who will agree with them. For money.

Leg lengthening at best is massive surgery and makes you look weird - long thighs with a short body.

How many people who have never had comments work on the trading floor of an investment bank ?

I’m just over 5ft 8.

As a youngster growing up in Fife, my nickname was Giraffe.

Happens all the time, reference to my height. I never think anything of it.

I’m actually under 5’ and I don’t mind at all but I’m in proportion. Only negative is I get my clothes overseas as it’s nigh impossible here.

My tall husband says the same thing.

Me too. Regular length trousers are usually fine but dresses tend to be a bit long.

I hate puff sleeves because they make me look as wide as I am tall.

@Thunderandlightningisfrightening but she is fine now as well as being 5’6”. And at no point has the surgeon admitted liability - he suggests she was a nightmare patient (have read the article). Also that she deliberately changed the lengthening device herself (suggestion is she didn’t want to wait and rushed things). They also say the difference was never what she claims. They do admit some things but only those listed as risks when you undertake such a complex procedure.

I’m not taking sides by the way - only they both know what really happened. I don’t trust the newspaper to give the facts.

I don't think that arthritis is a risk as it doesn't involve the joints.

I'm 5 ft 3 and I have learned how to shorten my own trousers in my 20s. I got fed up paying someone to do it.

I found M&S petite works for me however. Now I buy all my trousers from them.

There was a Scottish surgeon doing these operations. He did a few and was then told he wasn’t allowed to do them anymore. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/625680.stm

EDIT: Only two patients according to the article

no there is me as well.

Its really not. I’m just 5 feet on a good day and have absolutely no problems with anything apart from keeping the weight off.

Nobody has mentioned my height since I was about 12, I can reach all I need to and clothes fit just fine. Taking trousers up is hardly a bother. I’m not ambitious career wise but even if I was I don’t think not having my legs broken and pulled apart would help.

I think this is simply a case of having more money than sense, and enough money to have a surgeon as your puppet. Sad.

I had bone lengthening surgery 32 years ago on one of my forearms because my radius bone stopped growing in my teens and caused mobility issues in my wrist.

It was not a walk in the park. The muscle didn’t lengthen at the same rate and the bone started to bow so I had to have it broken again. The process should have taken 8 weeks and actually took around 6 months with all the complications.

It’s quite staggering this is offered as a non-essential, elective procedure.

I've always been shorter than my peers but now I'm shorter than a lot of primary school children, what the hell are they feeding them?

Also, looking at her ethnicity she's probably not unusually small, if she were white dutch she'd be a couple of standard deviations away from the norm.