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[Descreteuser]

originally i was going to do 5cm but i chose 4cm for a number of reasons.
- the monolateral device has troubles the more you lengthen
- im completely satisfied with 185cm
- 4cm is alot safer than 5cm with this device
- proportions

[YellowSpike]

id say 172 is a weak 5' 8", 174 is 5 8.5".

well i guess it's how you feel at the end of the day, but i would look at other people in the world rather than a figure you see in your head as what you think is a good height, and in that case you will notice many men shorter than you, and at that point, you will realise you are a good height, I think.

yeah Uppland wow 178, I wouldn't do LL even if it was for free at that height, even 174 i wouldn't do it. i know like 10 guys at 170, none of them care about their height.

YellowSpike you said LL is a long and hard process, if you did 5cm would you feel the process isn't that long, the length of time it takes along with the mental strain etc. is my main reason to go for 5cm over 7cm, keep in mind i will be doing external tibia.

Well I think my evening height is a little more than 172. I just got back from the gym, and it's 8pm near where I live, and I came in at just over 5'8" (so over 172.7), using the aerosol can method (I've heard stadiometers can actually slightly overstate your height, but I'm sure it ain't by much). Some nights I've measured a bit lower, but never as low as 172.

I agree, many of the others on here like Uppland already have good heights...but we also don't know what it's like to have tall siblings, a very tall father, or live in a super tall country. So to us, while 5'10" might seen epic, it may not cut it for them. It is what it is...if this will improve their lives (we all deserve to be happy), all the more power to them.

If I did 5cm femurs, I'm sure this would have been much easier. What's tempting about doing another inch next year is that Dr. G said I'd only have to click for like 2-2.5 weeks, then focus on recovery. He also said it would be much less painful, and that I'd have less side effects (less duckass and less funny walking after clicking). Only, this time around, I would make more of an effort to walk more right after finishing clicking. The fact that it was winter (ice on the ground) and from my own fear, I didn't walk as much as I could have earlier on. That's my only regret from how I went about this process so far.

Had a decent workout tonight. Started weight training (very light though) for my glutes...need to get that ass back to help with the duckass and hip swaying!

[microman]

oh right your 173, ok then, I would recomend a stadiometer along with measuring yourself in the frankfort position, that is how the male average is measured anyway so ideally you should try to match that.

so when guichet mentions another height surgery, is he saying for the tibia, or is it for adding more on your femur?

Would you really pay that much money again just for 3cm of height?

I remember on the old forum some guy went from 5 2 - 5 7 with 2 LL surgeries, apparently he did it again to get to 5 8.5, but i didn't even know you could re cut the bone for further length.

he was living in US btw so wasn't in india or something, just a really really short guy.

[YellowSpike]

oh right your 173, ok then, I would recomend a stadiometer along with measuring yourself in the frankfort position, that is how the male average is measured anyway so ideally you should try to match that.

so when guichet mentions another height surgery, is he saying for the tibia, or is it for adding more on your femur?

Would you really pay that much money again just for 3cm of height?

I remember on the old forum some guy went from 5 2 - 5 7 with 2 LL surgeries, apparently he did it again to get to 5 8.5, but i didn't even know you could re cut the bone for further length.

he was living in US btw so wasn't in india or something, just a really really short guy.

Hmm I'll try that. I'm familiar with the frankfort position...may give me a few mm, I dunno.

I mean, the cost will be far less to do that last inch...still expensive (if you break the cost down per inch), but not as crazy as the first time. I'm not entirely sure about it yet. Dr. G thinks I'll have become satisfied by the time I fully recover. We will see. The only reason I wouldn't do it would be time and not wanting to go through the process (albeit an abbreviated one) again once I"m fully recovered and fully back to my normal routine (I am still getting there). Cost isn't too much of an issue (I can actually afford another full-blown LL with Paley or Guichet right now), but I'm trying to save for a house within the next few years.

[microman]

it usually will by half a cm, but that is how the measurement is taken for the male average.

in case your wondering about the 9cm lifts they are donsfootwear

http://donsfootwear.com/elevator-height-increase-5-inch

you just ask for 5.5" model, they will give you 9cm more height than flats, mine are arriving in a week and i should see what 173cm feels like.

but if you are 173 now, and you did 7cm LL, then you would have been 166 pre op.

you must think it strange that I am 164 and only doing 5cm, but I want a quicker process and I feel fine using 4cm lifts as part of my height solution.

I could do a 2nd LL to 174, then i wont need the 4cm lifts, but that's not worth the fuss.

[YellowSpike]

Have been getting asked to give updates, so here we go.

My right leg has been fused for a while now (maybe mid/late April?). As of my latest x-rays, my left leg is still not quite there yet (but was told it's like 95% of the way there). This explains why I still have numbness in that leg (which I never had in the right one) and why it was so easy to click this leg throughout the process. I've been crutch-free (including stairs, which I'm still very slow with) for about 6 weeks now. My walking is ok but I still have this annoying hip swaying. Dr. G and two other patients told me in conversation that their walking seemed to improve faster after both legs were fused. So it's just this stupid left leg that's holding things up at the moment, but apparently it's very close to being fused finally (I might have to kill someone if it hasn't fused by my next X-rays, probably in like 3 or so weeks). I'd still say my overall recovery is fairly average for an LL patient who did a good 7cm (maybe slightly below average if we're comparing to legends like ShyShy/OBG, but maybe even a little above average when factoring in all other patients, including non weight-bearing ones).

Have been doing light workouts at the gym, including the elliptical, stair master, and light leg weights (but very light for now, given my stupid left leg). It's not too bad. Once I can walk down the street without feeling kinda embarrassed, I will feel very close to being like my old self again. I haven't been cleared to do these things yet, but couldn't wait any longer, and I'm being ultra careful.

I'll continue to give updates every so often, but I'm kind of over it all, so won't be nearly as often. My next update will likely be when the hip swaying goes away.

[Uppland]

Alright, how does it feel to have longer femurs then?

Nice to hear you're over it, the dream is to suffer for a while and then move on.

[YellowSpike]

How does it feel? Honestly, aside from the occasional pains that I still have (due to hip screws, weak muscles, etc.), it feels and looks totally normal. If my gait were better, no one would know I did LL. Although, the height difference is pretty nice. I love doing cardio at the gym, and seeing guys that from far away look taller than me, but I'm the same height or taller than them when I'm closer to them.

I still feel like a short guy (probably always will to some degree) on the inside, but everyone is telling me that I'm about average now.

[Uppland]

How does it feel? Honestly, aside from the occasional pains that I still have (due to hip screws, weak muscles, etc.), it feels and looks totally normal. If my gait were better, no one would know I did LL. Although, the height difference is pretty nice. I love doing cardio at the gym, and seeing guys that from far away look taller than me, but I'm the same height or taller than them when I'm closer to them.

I still feel like a short guy (probably always will to some degree) on the inside, but everyone is telling me that I'm about average now.

Cool, I was afraid it'd feel weird. Is your tibia/femur ratio within normal range then?

I can tell you this much at least, before I became self concious of my height I thought of all men between 170 and 2m as pretty much average. Rarely gave someones height a second thought, now that you're in the normal range I reckon people will feel the same way about you, dunno if that makes you feel good or not.

[YellowSpike]

Cool, I was afraid it'd feel weird. Is your tibia/femur ratio within normal range then?

I can tell you this much at least, before I became self concious of my height I thought of all men between 170 and 2m as pretty much average. Rarely gave someones height a second thought, now that you're in the normal range I reckon people will feel the same way about you, dunno if that makes you feel good or not.

I posted some pics of my proportions a while back. I think they look perfectly normal, and will look even better when my quads fill out more.

Yes. I do feel better about my height, and think it will improve more when my walk is normal again. 173 isn't bad. I now find myself getting slightly annoyed only when guys I somewhat know are just a little taller than me. Tall guys don't bother me, I know they're obviously taller...but I get annoyed with the 5'9/5'10 crowd sometimes because it's like "I'm so close to being there." But I am happy with what I've achieved so far.

[sunflower]

Hey yellowspike, glad to see you are doing well. I'm hoping to do surgery with Dr Guichet next feburary. I'm also a trainee orthopedic doctor, I was wondering how you felt about posting X-rays, as bone union and consolidation with this surgery is an aspect which still concerns me a little. Were you required to get EOS 3D X-rays preoperatively, as this is a request I have from Dr Guichet, however it is very new technology and not readily available. I presume follow up X-rays were of the usual type. Also how do you feel about your sitting femur/tibia ratio? Would you consider posting a picture of this view? I appreciate if you do not want to post these things as it is a little intrusive.

Best wishes

Sunflower

[YellowSpike]

Hey yellowspike, glad to see you are doing well. I'm hoping to do surgery with Dr Guichet next feburary. I'm also a trainee orthopedic doctor, I was wondering how you felt about posting X-rays, as bone union and consolidation with this surgery is an aspect which still concerns me a little. Were you required to get EOS 3D X-rays preoperatively, as this is a request I have from Dr Guichet, however it is very new technology and not readily available. I presume follow up X-rays were of the usual type. Also how do you feel about your sitting femur/tibia ratio? Would you consider posting a picture of this view? I appreciate if you do not want to post these things as it is a little intrusive.

Best wishes

Sunflower

Hey Sunflower. Yes, I had to do the EOS 3D x-rays when I was in Milano. When you start the process with Dr. G, he will give you a list of all the things that you need to have done before he will do the surgery on you.

As far as the pictures, we'll see. I'm honestly not very comfortable posting many pictures or x-rays on here. Plus, the x-rays I have are all on disc. I sent the files to Dr. G via an app he uses, and he converts them to high-res x-rays. So the little jpeg files I have wouldn't be of much use to you guys I don't think.

My sitting femur/tibia ratio is fine to me. Not a single person has commented on it. I've hooked up with a few girls since being back, and they've obviously seen me nked, but haven't said anything about it (the one girl who knew I did LL said my femurs "matched" my tibias perfectly).

[sunflower]

Glad to hear your getting on well with relationships, it sounds like you are very successful with the ladies! Goodwork! Do you feel an improvement in your height neurosis? I think it would be very interesting if one of the cosmetic leg lengthening surgeons collected data on pre and post operative psychological states of patients to see if their is a significant improvement. I cannot find any scientific papers to this effect although Dr Guichet states that he thinks most of his patients derive a benefit. I have an appointment with a psychiatrist for pre surgery assessment next month. I would be interested to know what your psychiatrist thought about the procedure?

Thanks again.

Sunflower

[MAN-OF-STEEL]

all the best YellowSpike!

[YellowSpike]

I've been back to my normal routine for some time now...and I have to say, 7cm of height makes a huge difference. I keep passing by guys that used to be taller than me even when I wore elevator shoes that supposedly gave me 3 inches (-1 for the fact that everyone else gets an inch in their shoes, and about -.5 more for the angle of your heel)...and now I'm about the same height or sometimes taller in just normal shoes. It's a pretty awesome feeling. 5'8" is of course still short, but it's a huge improvement from being just over 5'5", and I do feel like I blend in more unless it's all 6ft+ men around (which does happen sometimes).

Walking continues to improve, and I have times where my walking feels/looks pretty close to normal (with only a subtle hip sway). It's only bad when I've been sitting for a while or come off the elliptical/stairmaster when my legs are tight and the swaying then is more noticeable. But whatever, as long as it continues to improve, it's fine.

I'm moving forward with my life now, including making career moves. I make pretty good money for my age/location, but I know I can be doing better. I don't know if tibias are in the cards for me simply because they take too long (and I can't sacrifice my career for the ridiculously long tibia recovery). I'd like to do another inch in my femurs, and I don't think my femur/tibia proportions would be thrown off too much. I'm trying to think how I might  manage to do an inch maybe using vacation time at a new job or something like that (it's only 2 weeks to get an inch, and then I'm told by Dr G that consolidation is usually much faster). If I have to come to work on crutches for a bit, then so be it. 5'9", for me, would be epic, and I think the official end of it all. Time will tell.

[microman]

if you wear elevator shoes with advertised gain of 3", they give you 3.5cm of height compared to typical piar of shoes, just so you know.

I have these

http://www.tallmenshoes.com/elevator-shoes-k8828102.html

they are okay to preview yourself 3.5cm taller, but not suitable for permanent use, you can instead put a 2cm lift inside a high top sneaker, this is much easier to wear.

but yeah 5 8 ain't short by any definiton, it is within 1 standard deviation of the mean, therefore it is medium height, youd really need to be 4cm shorter to be considered in the short range for men.

if you do another LL for 3cm will it be external tibs then?

[YellowSpike]

5'8" is short, but it's passable, at least.

I don't want to do tibias, I've heard even for an inch, external tibias take like 5 or 6 months. I don't have that kind of time. So I might do another inch in femurs and hope that my femur/tibia proportions aren't horrible. I've been told that some guys started at like 164 and did 10cm with the Gnail and still looked ok. So maybe I will go that route.

[microman]

I have only heard of a few cases where they re do the same bone segment, sounds like an interesting idea.

but is it worth spending £40K just for 3cm of height, especially when you are only 4cm below the male average? isn't that just a bit excessive, maybe you can put that money into something more practical, maybe get a trainer and work out or something, height seems less advantageous at this point.

actually 5' 8" isn't short at all.

standard deviation’ wikipedia, the average height for adult men in the United States is about 177.5cm/5’ 10” inches, with a standard deviation of around 3 inches. This means that most men (68%) have a height within 3 inches of the mean (170cm/5’ 7”–6’ 1”)  – one standard deviation

‘Short stature’ –Wikipedia, "short" is 170 centimetres and under (5 ft 7 in)  as it is 1 standard deviation below the average.

sub-reddit -  For the purpose of this subreddit, 5'7'' and less is considered "short" for men

I would also point to the short and male documentary, where in men were from 5' 4" - 5' 6" living in the US.

[YellowSpike]

Well I won't say what the price is for the femur rebreak, but it's much cheaper than that. And as I said, I'm not entirely sure about this yet. Maybe I'll feel differently down the road. I think part of it is knowing that the very rods in my legs now have the potential for more (relatively easy, in theory) cm to get.

Tibias likely aren't on the table for me because I don't have the time to devote to super long recovery they entail.

[microman]

Oh I understand you now, I didn't realize he offered that service.

[YellowSpike]

Yeah the Gnail can go up to 10.5cm. I did about 7cm, maybe a little over (since we get more than what we click apparently)...so I have about 3cm left on the nail. Based on my discussions with Dr. G, the femur rebreak would be significantly easier and less painful. The rods are already in there, and since I'd only do an inch, he says I'd have less side effects (duckass and funny walking) and would consolidate faster. He said it is possible to do the whole thing about 6 weeks to be walking decently.

If I can get the time off at a new job (somehow), I might do it. It all depends on where my life is next summer.

[YellowSpike]

Walked into a house party last night...and two girls I hadn't seen in a while almost blew my cover. One pointed and looked at me with squinted eyes (I saw her through the corner of my eyes)...and another said (pretty damn loudly) "Yellowspike, you look so tall!" I played it cool and just said "I lost weight and grew my hair out." Phew.

Not gonna lie, it kinda made my night. I was only in sandals too

[Uppland]

Walked into a house party last night...and two girls I hadn't seen in a while almost blew my cover. One pointed and looked at me with squinted eyes (I saw her through the corner of my eyes)...and another said (pretty damn loudly) "Yellowspike, you look so tall!" I played it cool and just said "I lost weight and grew my hair out." Phew.

Not gonna lie, it kinda made my night. I was only in sandals too

Nice makes me want to get 7CM done as well, tough perhaps 6CM to ensure better proportions and recovery is the way to go?

[YellowSpike]

I mean, you're already a good height...so I don't see why you'd need to go beyond 6cm. I think recovery time starts getting longer once you pass around 6cm. 6-7 is moderate, beyond 7 I think it gets pretty long. It's been just over 6 months post-op for me, and my walking is only now starting to get semi-normal (still have a bit of funny gait, but much better than it was). I may not be ShyShy or OBD, but I feel like my recovery has been quite good all things considered (espeically since I've been working since 2.5 months post-op).

[YellowSpike]

I've been talking with other LL patients and have read some of the threads on here about various topics such as future complications, biomechanics, proportions, etc. While I understand that anyone has the right to do LL no matter what their height is and what their reasons are for wanting it...I'm starting to feel that (for me, anyway) it may be best to just accept it for what it is now and call it a day. Yeah, I'm still short, but I don't think anyone's life should be surgeries and then the long subsequent recoveries. Not to mention that I'm in my very early 30s and want to enjoy my relative youth. Another guy on here said something to the effect of "I feel great when I'm just standing around at my new height, but don't feel that great when I have to move." That kinda sums up how I feel sometimes. I may feel differently down the road, but I'm not sure a future LL is in the cards for me, as much as I'd like just another inch or two.

I hope people really think long and hard about this process and don't think they'll be able to have an epic recovery like some on here have had. This takes a lot longer that you think, I don't care how young or great shape you are in. Dr. Guichet has even said things to the effect that it actually takes years to really get truly 100% back to normal in every possible way (and I imagine I won't feel normal or close to normal until the nails are taken out). I'd love some more height, but the more I think about it all, I may just try to tolerate the situation and stop here, as much as I don't want to. All the time, money, pain, inconveniences etc. are a very high cost. The height increase is great, but this is why I personally can't wrap my head around people of certain already-solid heights (even though they're all perfectly entitled to their own feelings) wanting to actually do this. This sh*t is no joke folks.

Don't get me wrong. This was basically a necessity for me at my starting height and I don't actually regret it. It's mostly been worth it. Nevertheless, I still sometimes wonder if it's truly worth the astronomical costs (again - money, time, pain, logistics, etc.).

[microman]

yeah christ i wouldn't have paid the money you payed for it almost being £50 grand, maybe you come from a very rich background where people spend that kind of money on things but i haven't known anyone to spend that kind of money on anything.

but thankfully there is serbia and russia for the more affordable doctors, my whole trip will cost me about £9 grand.

but at the end of the day it is the height you can accept for yourself, if you can accept bieng 5 8 then great, it would have been a far better experience for you had you been ging from 168 - 173 as 5cm is the ideal gain for things like recovery and propotions nad what not.

its just a shame you were much below that target and had to endure quite a bit to go from that 5 to 7cm gain.

im doing my op in a week or two going for 5 myself and looking forward to accepting my height as well at 169.5

its all relative however i think most men can accept being 169- 173, even though it isn't the tallest of heights is no where near the true shortness of 164-167 say.

[YellowSpike]

Actually the financial cost is the least of my issues. The peace of mind I had going in to break my legs and have nails put in with a reputable surgeon was worth it.

[Uppland]

Yeah, it's rough feeling like you can't accept your natural height, I mean what are you supposed to do then?

It's either living the rest of your life being unhappy with yourself or to go through this  . Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

How is your movement yellowspike, do you feel like a cripple or something?

Noticing any progress?

[YellowSpike]

Yeah, it's rough feeling like you can't accept your natural height, I mean what are you supposed to do then?

It's either living the rest of your life being unhappy with yourself or to go through this crap. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

How is your movement yellowspike, do you feel like a cripple or something?

Noticing any progress?

Not feeling like a cripple at all. I can walk pretty well and have been doing the train, stairs, gym etc. I have some annoying pain here and there but I can deal with that.

My frustration stems from the high cost I paid to get here and still be unhappy with my height. But this can only go on of two ways...learn to accept 173 or do a future LL. For those who can clear a good height with one surgery may feel differently.

But once you've gone through this once....you'll see what I mean lol

[Uppland]

Not feeling like a cripple at all. I can walk pretty well and have been doing the train, stairs, gym etc. I have some annoying pain here and there but I can deal with that.

My frustration stems from the high cost I paid to get here and still be unhappy with my height. But this can only go on of two ways...learn to accept 173 or do a future LL. For those who can clear a good height with one surgery may feel differently.

But once you've gone through this once....you'll see what I mean lol

Yeah, man I don't want so sound like a jerk but I think I get how you feel. My goal was always to be at least my dads height but that's not gonna happen so I will always be more or less unhappy with my height -that's something we both will have to live with for the rest of our lifes.

I will say this though: 173CM is short in the west -no way around that- but it's normal. I see people that height or shorter every day, some are handsome, some are successful some are both. They'll always be short but their height doesn't define them like it for example does a 165CM guy. So that's a really big leap you've taken, from blatantly short to a height that no one will think twice on -not even here in Sweden would it be strange at all. Hell the current sex symbol over here is your height exactly, he's getting more blonde pussy than he can cope with, and the minister of state is shorter than you are.

Bottom line is, yeah you are short, but your height isn't holding you back anymore -you can do and be whatever you want. No one will question it.

[microman]

well at least your tibia surgery will be cheaper as you can use the cheaper devices like externals etc.

but can you do tibia while the nail is still inside for your femurs, i know you have to wait ages to remove the nail.