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Radical surgery permanently extends your legs
- hprotagonist 7y agoA classmate of mine in 3rd grade spent an entire year in more or less constant pain when one of his legs needed growth plate surgery. He had metal pins sticking out of his legs, and like you would with braces, they were forcibly separated a millimeter or so a week for a year. This is like having a broken femur for 12 months that's intentionally never allowed to heal so the bone has to keep regrowing to fill in the gap. i don’t recommend it for aesthetics! in his case, it was required and something they wanted to do before his growth plates closed completely. As a result he's had a normal adulthood.
- reedwolf 7y agoAnd then I can finally go to Titan.
- m4rtink 7y agoActually, this can happen also by accident during hip joint replacement surgery many older people take these days. The chance is not very high, but it sucks, as you then have one leg slightly longer, causing all manner of problems. Reportedly people then have to use special shooes but it still sucks.
- Broken_Hippo 7y agoThe "special shoes" really just depends on the extent of your problem. I've worked with folks that needed a significant lift on one foot: these were not cheap at all. On the other hand, my mother has one leg slightly longer than the other. It does cause her pain, but all she needs is a shoe insert to correct the issue. It really isn't a big deal at all, and avoiding pain is definitely worth it.
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- blahbhthrow3748 7y agoIt's amazing to me that to get gender confirming surgery you need a letter from a psychologist and an unrelated doctor to prove you're sane enough, but if you're a rich dude you can just pay to have your legs broken so you can be over 6 feet tall.
- koenigdavidmj 7y agoRight now my son can’t get a time-sensitive surgery at any price, which has a non-zero chance of damaging his hearing and speech trouble.
- rsynnott 7y agoEthically, these doctors are supposed to get reassure themselves that their patients are compos mentis. In practice, though, actually doing so effectively would devastate the plastic surgery industry, especially this sort of fringe stuff. Note that there seem to be about three doctors worldwide who do this as a cosmetic procedure. (It is worth noting that the doctor in the article says he's turned people away, so some sort of screening is presumably being applied.) There was an amazing Channel 4 (UK TV channel) documentary a while back about penis enlargement surgery. _Every single person_ who appeared in it should probably have been referred to a psychologist. One guy had it done about 10 times.
- wyclif 7y agoI'd rather just watch Gattaca and experience this on the screen rather than in real life. I'm 5'9" and totally content with that.
- knolax 7y agoReminds me of this: https://jezebel.com/stories-about-my-brother-1835651181 https://jezebel.com/stories-about-my-brother-1835651181 Author's brother died from am embolism resulting from height extension surgery.
- commandlinefan 7y agoMind-blowing that she tries to blame that on _men_.
- knolax 7y agoI don't see any of that. There's some overwrought navel-gazing about masculinity but I just posted the link because it showed that apparently you can get an embolism from leg extension surgery.
- rudiv 7y agoSeems to me she blames that on > patriarchy and white supremacy not on men.
- swebs 7y agoNot surprising. Jezebel is an internet tabloid for social justice warriors.
- rsynnott 7y agoShe blamed it on ‘the patriarchy’, that is, essentially, traditional gender roles and expectations. Those absolutely harm both women and men. Why was the brother insecure over his height in the first place? Almost certainly because society says that men _should_ be taller.
- BurningFrog 7y agoThis is about the fact that women strongly prefer a man that is considerably taller than themselves. If this is a cultural norm or an inherent part of human nature is both debatable and researchable. To me, it has all the marks of a builtin preference of our species.
- swiftcoder 7y agoYou know, as someone tall enough to walk into doorways in older buildings, and too tall to fold oneself into a compact car... Height advantages are subjective.
- eyegor 7y agoOn the plus side you get to build up forehead calluses, especially if you have a basement.
- knolax 7y agoBecome an IRL Klingon.
- pavel_lishin 7y agoToday is a good day to duck!
- ape4 7y agoWould the body be out of proportion? If somebody is tall everything thing else is big/long too.
- phalangion 7y ago3 inches probably isn't enough to notice disproportion.
- choeger 7y ago7.5cm longer tibia? Just look at your naked legs and imagine it. I think this would be very noticable.
- justsomedood 7y agoI believe they can get 3 inches only if they lengthen femur and tibia/fibia, so it would be closer to 3.8 cm longer tibia. Still seems like it would make everything different
- rsynnott 7y agoIt probably wouldn't be that noticeable; there's a lot of natural variation there anyway. I've longer arms and legs that would be normal for my torso; in practice it mostly just manifests in minor problems with clothes (in particular it's very hard to get a shirt that fits).
- rsynnott 7y ago(And I expect someone both wealthy and vain enough to consider this would just get around that one with tailoring).
- toast0 7y agoNot everyone grows proportionally. Sometimes there's a condition attached such as hypochondroplasia; sometimes someone just has a longer torso than their arms and legs would suggest.
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- gkfasdfasdf 7y agoHaving legs disproportionately long compared to the torso isn't ideal either.
- onionisafruit 7y agoI currently have disproportionately short legs, so I may be the ideal candidate for this. However, there’s no way I would put myself through this painful surgery just to end up having to explain why I’m suddenly taller to everybody. It would make something I’m insecure about a conversation starter for the next year.
- lightgreen 7y ago> having to explain why I’m suddenly taller to everybody Don’t worry about them: if these conversations become annoying to you, just find better understanding friends. I’m not arguing for or against this procedure though: it can be helpful for some people and can be damaging (both physically and mentally) to others like any other cosmetic surgery.
- stedaniels 7y agoYour friends being concerned about your well-being and speaking to you about it are much better than those who don't.
- BurningFrog 7y ago> having to explain why I’m suddenly taller to everybody No need to worry about that. This process takes several months.
- jmclnx 7y agoIf I am rich enough to have that done, I would rather have an app that displayed my bank balance on a small lapel button :) I'll be here all week :) Anyway if a person's only dating criteria is your height and they themselves are not around that height, then I think it is best to stay as far away from that person as possible. I knew couple people like that and over the years they have had lots of relationship issues.
- whatshisface 7y ago92.2% or so of men are taller than their heterosexual partners. This is usually attributed to women's preferences, although I'm sure there are some men who insist on their SOs being shorter than them. Avoiding people who think height is an extremely important factor may not be possible. Source: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-common-is-it-for-a-man-to-be-shorter-than-his-partner/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-common-is-it-for-a-...
- analog31 7y agoWhat would the percentage be, if it were random?
- rjtobin 7y agoThe source posted answers that too. In one of the studies contained in the 538 article, the probability of a woman being taller than a men if both are selected randomly was .102. Compare this to the observed probability of woman in a couple being taller than her male partner being .075. How big is this difference? Well if 25 percent of women only dated taller men, and the other 75 percent of women were totally indifferent, we would see this. So not quite as extreme as one might guess from a statistic like "92.5 percent of men are taller than their partners".
- jplayer01 7y agoOh wow. I didn’t know it was that uncommon. I’m fairly short, so every gf I’ve had was taller. But it’s terribly clear women have filtered me out often because of my height. It’s depressing.
- leftyted 7y ago> “I think that’s something that’s so powerful too — people will always be three inches taller or whatever you made them,” Debiparshad said. “They’ll die and be in their casket and decompose three inches longer. It’s very permanent.” Possibly the best argument against getting this kind of bizarre cosmetic surgery.
- Broken_Hippo 7y agoI don't really understand why that's an argument against it. We do permanent things all the freaking time. Holes in earlobes and tattoos. We remove - and sometimes install - teeth! We patch folks up with metal, install breast and butt implants, install electronics to help hearts and brains. We suck away fat! Not all of these are minor cosmetic surgeries - some are major surgeries and optional! And besides, if it weren't permanent, why would one go through the pain of the surgery in the first place? I'd actually argue that if the permanence is something that bothers you, this is certainly not something you would personally consider, but it certainly isn't really an argument against it being available for the wider population.
- leftyted 7y agoBecause you're going to die and your body is going to decay and those extra inches mean absolutely nothing.
- Broken_Hippo 7y agoNeither does any of the rest of it, honestly. Tattoos decay. It won't matter that you got tooth implants. Your pacemaker won't matter, it'll be recycled or trashed. Most of us will just be forgotten. And that's all OK. But things like that can mean that while you were alive, you were happier.
- leftyted 7y agoI think tattoos and piercings are stupid for the same reason. Dental surgeries can make you look normal and improve function. Pacemakers help you live longer. There are things that regular people can do that will survive their deaths. Mostly, having children. But also having close relationships with other people who will remember you, tell stories about you, and so on. I expect plenty of people on HN will write code that will survive them.
- Digit-Al 7y agoIf all you want to do is attract women then there's somewhere else you can add three inches that'll be a lot more effective, and cheaper too :-D
- seattle_spring 7y agoSure this might be neat, but a dolphinoplasty is what people in the world really need to feel whole.
- dbcurtis 7y agoHome Depot has drywall stilts under US$100. Just sayin'
- overcast 7y agoThis is some Gattaca shit right here. Only for the desperate.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 7y agoDoesn't this permanently increase the number of cells that you have, and therefore augments the chance that you'll get cancer?
- Zenbit_UX 7y agoEverything augments the chances you get cancer. Your chances are higher reading this now than when you had originally posted your comment. So, yes but also, who cares...
- tdons 7y agoAre there also downsides? Will my legs be more prone to breaking (for instance, when jumping)? Will my gait, or my balance be altered? Will this become a non-issue over time? I'm curious.
- thundergolfer 7y agoHaving to undergo the process is a huge downside. I’ve done it 4 times. Forgot how bad the first three were (thanks brain) but my latest was a terrible time. Another downside is that you will have scars all over your legs. Your legs should not be more prone to breaking. Gait and balance will initially of course be affected, but there’s no long term problems there.
- symplee 7y agoI guess that's one way to get a leg up on the competition.
- hifumin 7y agoThere's also leg shortening surgery, apparently it's a thing in places where there's some stigma around being taller than normal.
- thundergolfer 7y agoI’ve had this surgery done on my right leg 4 times. 3 times on my fibula, at 4, 11, and 17 years old, and once at 26 years old on my femur. The first two had me using the external lengthening frame, which makes for a gruesome looking leg with thin long screws drilled through your bone and poking out to connect to two metal rings whose spacing controlled the lengthening. It’s about as painful as you’d imagine it is to wake up after surgery with a half dozen screws through now your two pieces of fibula. I remember being scared of hitting the frame on things because of how painful it was. At 17 I was able to take advantage of an internal lengthening rod, so no frame needed. It’s much nicer than a frame and I would say that is what all the article’s patients use. Remarkable medical tech. By the time my last one was near I’d forgotten how bad the experience was. I took only 2 weeks off work. I was stupidly overconfident. I spent 1 week in hospital really drugged up and in heaps of pain, with a freshly broken femur, and then got home and had a worse week. It was too painful to sleep for a couple of months and the lengthening itself was awful, as my quad muscles were being stretched in ways that a child’s muscles will handle but my adult muscles were hating. I’d spend over an hour a day stretching my leg that originally could only bend 50 degrees, and more than once the pain brought me to tears. Once I could get to a physiotherapist she was shocked at how cut up and bruised the surgery had made me. Over half the surface area of my right buttock, hip, and upper leg was purple, with 6 new scars. By that point, a month in, I had come to reckon with how brutal this surgery is, and that I had months and months of recovery left. I was not a happy person. Pretty angry, to be honest. I couldn’t walk unaided by crutches for over 6 months, and I’d been aching to be able to walk since about day 14 of my recovery. My right femur is now 4cm longer. People doing this surgery for cosmetic reasons do both legs and much more than 4cm at a time, sometimes 12cm. 12cm in one go must be agony for adult muscles, and it would take a over a year and half to get walking again. Having just experienced 4cm on one leg, it’s incredible that we let people do this to themselves so that they can be more attractive.