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[Alu]

Average in Netherlands is 185cm. So 6 foot here is like 5'9 in usa even though I think the young white American average height is more like 5'11 (181cm) at least in big cities.

And I have to ask what's so hard about being average in one of the tallest countries in the world? No one will ever proclaim you as short, one will ever hurt/discriminate you because of it. Sure you might say in your country people want 185+CM in height for dating but if you really take that comment to heart and decide you need to put yourself through months of pain and immobility, then you don't just have a mental illness  (we all do), but a misguided view on life.

Also I disagree, going from short to average or even slightly below average has the most benefits then going from average to tall. It gives people a huge boost in confidence, increases the dating pool, and limits height discrimination drastically (I'd also like to say that height discrimination at that range is marginal and a product of something more malevolent).

Truth be told I don't care who gets this surgery done, but considering the possible complications, huge cost, long and arduous lengthening AND consolidation phase, like Uppland said, anyone 183CM and up faces the most diminishing retuns even in a country where that is average (let alone the rest of the world which is shorter).

[patientdad]

You should totally forget this idea.  My son went through it, and it is not easy.  I am 5'10" and have never felt short.  You should move on with your life.

[Peaceout]

You should totally forget this idea.  My son went through it, and it is not easy.  I am 5'10" and have never felt short.  You should move on with your life.

I believe his neurosis is mostly because of his family and there are other people here also having this issue.Im shorter than my dad,my older brother and all of my male cousins.I really dont think i would be obsessed so hard like this if i had a shorter family.I feel like it was my right to reach 5'11(180-182).. But its taken away from me.For the rest of my life i wont have it naturally.It really hurts to know that.

[Moloko]

Yes I think you make some good points. I don't want to go to live in another country so being tall in some other countries isn't really much use. I suppose given the cost of the surgery I should probably forget it and move on with my life. I didn't have that much of an issue with height before but I got into a relationship with a girl who was around 190cm and her comments about wanting a guy taller than her got to me and then I started really learning about height discrimination and it changed my outlook on it more. I wore shoe lifts a few times and I noticed when I did this and went to clubs I would get a lot of female attention. All these things combined just made me really want to increase height. I know its an advantage to be taller but I also know that it is basically a mental illness to be even seriously considering this kind of surgery.

I also think that people look at height relative to those they spend a lot of time with. I know a few people who are the shorter ones in tall families and have issues with it even though they are often above average like my friend who is 188cm but all his brothers are taller.

[Ozymandias]

Once upon a time this forum was about short people wanting to be "less short" or "average". Suddenly, it is all about already tall guys wanting to become ultra-tall 

I disagree with the people saying that at 5'10 or the surgery is not necessary, in fact I would argue the surgery has a lot more benefits for someone who is this height. It can take you from average to tall and studies have shown that this is statistically an advantage. If you are 5'4 and do this surgery to become 5'9 you are still under average, sure you will suffer less discrimination and it will be less of an obvious issue but you will still be discriminated against just in a less noticeable way. Going from short to short will achieve less than going from short to average than going from average to tall. When you are tall you will no longer have any height based discrimination! I also think that while you may not agree that someone needs the surgery calling them ''crazy'' or ''weak'' for considering it is very insulting. I'm sure if you could just add 2 inches to your height over night with no surgery or long term issues almost everyone under average would do it.

I am in a similar situation to the op; I am around 6 foot but I live in the Netherlands which is the tallest country in the world with an average height of around 6 foot-6 foot 1. I am obviously luckier than a lot of people on this forum in that i'm not short but I still feel I could gain some advantages from a 2-3 inch increase. As an example just look at dating sites many have profiles requesting a minimum height of 185cm.

We are all in the same boat. All wanting to improve our lives. So lets be nice to each other and work together to move forward!

I agree with being nice to each other, but I strongly disagree with the rest of your post.

No, going from "average" to "tall" is not more important than going to "very short" to "short", or from "short" to "average". The fact that you are saying this proves me that you have never faced any height discrimination, and that you are probably trying to attribute any minor issue you are having in your daily life to a false self-perception of not being tall enough. But you are 184, for gods sake. You are a tall guy. Even in the tallest country of the world, you are at least average. It does not sound bad at all, does it?

When you are average height, you get no height discrimination. Plain and simple. You're confusing "discrimination" with "lack of privileges". There is a guy in this forum who was fired from his sales position for being too short. That is an example of real discrimination. And I know a few more extreme cases. Just think for a second how CLL can change the life of a guy going from short / very short to average. In my honest opinion, if your only reason to consider CLL is getting more female attention, you should forget about it. Especially if you are already an average/tall guy, like is your case.

But, of course, it is your body, and it is you money. If you are honestly decided to go through this surgery, god luck. Just be sure it is what you really need.

[LookingAround]

\

No, going from "average" to "tall" is not more important than going to "very short" to "short", or from "short" to "average". The fact that you are saying this proves me that you have never faced any height discrimination, and that you are probably trying to attribute any minor issue you are having in your daily life to a false self-perception of not being tall enough. But you are 184, for gods sake. You are a tall guy. Even in the tallest country of the world, you are at least average. It does not sound bad at all, does it?

When you are average height, you get no height discrimination. Plain and simple. You're confusing "discrimination" with "lack of privileges". There is a guy in this forum who was fired from his sales position for being too short. That is an example of real discrimination. And I know a few more extreme cases. Just think for a second how CLL can change the life of a guy going from short / very short to average. In my honest opinion, if your only reason to consider CLL is getting more female attention, you should forget about it. Especially if you are already an average/tall guy, like is your case.

But, of course, it is your body, and it is you money. If you are honestly decided to go through this surgery, god luck. Just be sure it is what you really need.

I disagree with this post big time.  Picture a normal curve:



Let's assume average height is 5'10 and the standard deviation for height is about 2 inches.

That means about 2/3s of people are 5'8 to 6' with 1/6th above and 1/6th below.  Note: In Netherlands its more like 2/3s between 5'9.5 to 6'1.5.  That means if a person who is 5'8 gets 4 inches extension he will leapfrog 2 out of 3 men in terms of height.  If he gets just 2 inches he will go from being the shortest or second short out of 6 people to the 3rd shortest.

From my perspective, 2 inches will take me from the 50th to 80th percentile, which I think is the ideal place to be.  That is pretty much the same for Moloko.

If a person who is 5'5 gets 2 inches taller, he is now 5'7.  In his mind and in the eyes of many woman this makes a world of difference.  But from the perspective of 80% of men, he is still short.  He has only leapfrogged about 6% of the population.

EDIT: Having said that, Moloko I advise you look up real statistics about the height of men in Netherlands to get a more objective sense of how tall people are.  The average height is not 6'1, despite what one study might say.  Based on the average height of the various Scandinavian countries (a large enough sample of genetically similar people to take out bias inherent in each study) I would imagine the average height is more like 5'11.5-6'.  This means you are on the taller side of average, maybe 55th to 60th percentile.  Another 2 inches would get you right up to the 85th percentile without hampering your athletic ability too much.  That is my plan but feel free to go ahead with whatever you desire!

[DoingItForMe]

Hi DIFM,

I just ready your diary in its entirety and was very fascinated and a little disturbed.  I had no idea the necessity for painkillers was that severe.  In my mind the surgery had been as simple as "break, stretch, heal", with six months and 75k spent but the permanent advantage of an extra couple inches gained.  I also think I drastically underestimated how much height one can gain.  Going from 167 to 175 is an increase of roughly 5%.  For some reason, I had thought 4-6 centimeters was the normal range.  Still, I wouldn't want more than 5 maybe 6 cms in my case as all I really want is that 6 foot status, which I think would enable me to be tall enough to be on the tall side  while still retaining a blocky, thick look that I think complements the rest of my features.

Thanks to your diary, I have changed my mind about this surgery. Unless the circumstances are absolutely perfect (good cheap surgeon, time off from career, maybe being single again) I don't think I'll go through with this..  After all, I could pop in inch high lifts and maybe spend more time stretching in the gym and thus get 60% of the benefit of the surgery without the pain, misery, and financial cost.  Thanks for sharing!

You're very welcome! Yea, I wore shoe lifts for about a decade prior to LL. There's definitely a difference in the way people treat you at different heights. I don't know if there's much difference between 5'10" to 6', which is why I'm curious about your experience if you go through with LL. But I always suggest giving shoe lifts a try prior to doing LL, because it's the same height advantage - 2 inches if you buy the right lifts. It also has the benefit of easing your coworkers into your new height if you do end up getting LL. My only warning is that getting LL while you're young, which you still are, would most likely lead to a better recovery than if you're a few years older. As for loss of athletic ability, this could happen even if you simply break your leg without lengthening. Think of all those athletes who ended their careers after they break a bone. So there's no guarantee that you'll get back your athleticism even if you only lengthen 2 inches. Just wanted to clear that up with you. Two inches is still a lot to stretch your flesh and muscles, no matter how tall you already are.

[Ozymandias]

From my perspective, 2 inches will take me from the 50th to 80th percentile, which I think is the ideal place to be.  That is pretty much the same for Moloko.

If a person who is 5'5 gets 2 inches taller, he is now 5'7.  In his mind and in the eyes of many woman this makes a world of difference.  But from the perspective of 80% of men, he is still short.  He has only leapfrogged about 6% of the population.

OK, this is your opinion and it is very respectable, but let me say: as well as Moloko, you are NOT short at all. You have never faced real height discrimination, so you have no idea of how annoying it is. In my opinion, getting rid of such discrimination is far more important than putting yourself "in the ideal place" or "leapfrogging" 80% of the population.

What do you think is the reason why most doctors would think twice (or even reject) about lengthening a guy 5'10 or over?

[Monster1]

I have been reading the above and all I have say why the negativity we always take risks in life in like parachuting out of an airplane or going on a roller coaster ride yes these are risks you could die. Everybody wants something that they want in life yes I have the money but you know what the one thing I dont have in life is not being over that 6ft mark in height. Every day that passes I think this is the thing that I am missing and yes I am young only 22 years of age but I want ll surgery done so I have my dream wish and new year resolution.

I am 5ft 9 on a good day but I want to be 6ft 1 in height why because their no discrimination when you over 6ft tall. Like if you want to be a male model you have to be in that 6ft range.

I not doing it for girls but their is only going to be one girl one day maybe she wouldn't even worry about my height.

But I like how taller men look thats why I want to be taller remember height and confidence you will be a dominant star in a special 6ft category.

Their are advantages of being taller and disadvantages same as with being short.

If you have a dream do it take away the people that dont support your idea and have a positive mind and also by praying to god that this surgery will go good with no complications afterwards and life would be better afterwards.


So USERNAME: LOOKINGAROUND   go for your dream wish dont let nobody stop you I fully support you.

[Monster1]

Skydiving and roller coaster rides don't leave you with pain and loss in athletic ability and possibly shortened lifespan afterwards. This surgery is not some trivial matter, and "praying to god" will not do jack for you. There's no guarantee that life will be better afterwards. You're suffering what is known as "the grass is greener on the other side". You THINK that it's better, but unless you yourself went from 5'10" to 6', then you really are in no position to tell him that life would be better. Just because you see 6' guys living a better life than you doesn't mean that you will have the same life as them. I used to be 5'6" and I live a better life than most 6' guys. Height isn't everything.

People here aren't being negative for negativity's sake. They're trying to save someone from an unnecessary surgery where the cons might outweigh the pros in this case. With that being said, I do think that if you're really that unhappy with your height, then go do the surgery. But don't for a second try to think that the surgery is as easy as skydiving or rollercoasters. And don't even think that your life will better afterwards, because it's not guaranteed. You could be having pain even months after lengthening like I am suffering now and other patients are as well. Everyone thinks they're tough and can deal with the pain, until they actually go through with it.

Like I said being short has it advantages than being tall yes you can live a better life than no matter what. I  rather do the surgery and be taller and achieve that new height. The surgery may be painfull it may last up to 2 years but I dont want to die one day knowing that I never got something that I wanted. Some can handle pain and some cannot and yes may lose your legs with this surgery but then you can use prosthetic legs afterwards and live a life even it goes wrong. So it is a dangerous route yes nobody has influenced me to this surgery but I want to have this in my life and let nobody judge me and tell everything can go wrong. People will tell you are nuts go ahead waste the money and lose your legs for your rest of you life but I said to myself leave the negativity aside and be positive hope for the best thats what I want.

Dont get me wrong I have being reading people who have had ll surgery and life improved tremendous  afterwards and I have read some with disaster results . I am young now and let nobody tell me it is worthless to do this dangerous surgery I going to get this surgery done an live happy afterwards.

[DoingItForMe]

Or to some degree aren't fully living life when millions of other guys who are around 5'9-5-11 are living life without a care and some of you are stuck in despair. I don't care who gets LL done but I do care the reasoning going into LL. It's such a huge gamble when your account for all the things that can go wrong. It's not a simple nose-job.

Exactly. At 5'9" I don't face discrimination anymore, and it wasn't hard for me to get the phone numbers of really good looking girls. Although prior to LL, I really wanted to be 5'11", because I thought that that's the ideal height for a male - not too tall not too short. Now that I've been through LL, I realize that it's not worth going from 5'9" to 5'11", even if my proportions are screwed up in the femur:tibia ratio. There is simply not anything holding me back from achieving or doing anything at this height.

[salutewomens]

well, my friend you said your height is 5 10 right so nice very nice it's still a great height because if you just wear a tiny shoes with small heel you are already 6 foot and I really don't recommend you to perform this surgery but anyways if you desire to become what you want and can't live like this for your whole life go ahead and do this surgery. Best of luck.