I'm a 17 year old male and only 5'2. My dad's 5'4 or 5'5 and mom's 4'10 or 4'11. The average height for maes in India, where I live is 5'5 or 5'6 but it's still bad when your shortest friend is 5 inches taller than you. Now I'd be happy with 5'4 too, which is why I cringe when people 5'6 and above get this painful stuff done to them. To each their own, I suppose.
I haven't grown in a year. Anyway, since I'm 17, I've decided to wait another year to see if I grow naturally. I'm going to an endocrinologist in 10 days to see if my growth plates have fused. You're supposed to get a growth spurt at 17, right? How I wish for it. But worst case scenario, I'm getting it done next year.
The lucky side would be that I'm taking a year off education and I have all the time in the world. This surgery is more efficient and cheap in India (and other countries like Russia, China etc from what I've read) than the US. Aha, take that, Murica! Happy 4th of July. Anyway, jokes apart, I'm not that scared of the pain. I know I'll take it.. I'm more worried about long term complications.
For all the short guys that had/will have this done for height (healthy short guys, not dwarfs that do it for medical reasons) let me hear your stories.