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[jakejake98]

Hello, I've posted here before but I'm here again anxious about my height and thinking more about this surgery.

I'm 170 cm, 16 years old and before I say anything, I've been heavily drinking and smoking since the age of 15 where I've only grown about 2-3 cm since then. My dad is about 180 cm, my mum is about 160,

My arm length (from around the top of shoulder to my middle finger) 30 inches of 76 cm. My sitting height is about 90.5 cm.

I compared my arm length to my 5'9 friend and we have about the same, my arm length looks about the same as his when I'm on tip toes making myself 176cm (1 cm taller) - and his arms look pretty long and lanky but somehow I have 'longer arms' than him or the same.

Anyways, but when I compare with my 6'2 friend, his arm length is ridiculously long, he's lanky and when I'm on tip toes standing at about 176 cm (without shoes), his arm length is a little longer than mine. He has really big hands too.

Is comparing my arm length with someone 6'2 always gonna make me look like I have short arms and does he just have really long arms?

If my goal height is 180 cm and my arm length is 76 cm is that nothing to worry about, or will I be a t-rex?
I don't consider doing this surgery until the age of 18, but if by then my height and arm length hasn't changed, will a +10 cm increase look okay if I have 76 cm long arms and a sitting height of 90.5 cm?

Also, what are the chances that anyone without knowledge of LL notice I did this surgery? Will I look somewhat proportional to someone of the same height as me when I increase to theirs? For e.g. If I have a friend of 180cm height and I get LL to 180cm, will I look normal? Or should arm lengthening be considered as well?

Because today I was comparing my sitting height to a friend that is 2 cm taller than me, and I'm at least 5 cm taller than him while sitting down, meaning I have a pretty large torso compare to an average person of my height.

Is there a way that I can also remove the scars from LL or if I consider doing arm lengthening, is it also removable? I have no problem with having less sports ability even though I'm really good at it, right now what is killing me is being short. I know I'm not 'really short' but my height is a problem for me, I feel as if I need to make-up for being short, for e.g be attractive and be funny, whilst my taller friends just seem to be more 'masculine'.

Most of my friends are taller than me and even some younger kids are taller than me. I also seem to have a short wingspan but long arm length, how is that possible? Anyways, if anyone has time, please read my questions and answer :3, thank you for your time!

Also, I was on roller skates and I am about 180 cm on them, I seem to look very 'suitable' with that height my mum has said, I've even compared myself with her in the mirror and she says I look proportional and no one is going to be checking for your arm length unless they're as "crazy as you when it comes to proportions".

[jakejake98]

My own thoughts is that I just look long-legged, my torso looks kinda short in this picture but in real life it looks pretty average compared to my 6'2 friend haha.

http://i.imgur.com/fkL7bCD.png

Btw, in this pic I'm 170 cm without shoes and I didn't edit the pic, I just put my roller skates on and then cropped my feet on-top of it.

Haha what are your opinions?

[jakejake98]

Sorry for the spam,

and without comparing the 'new height' of 180cm to my 170cm height it looks like this:

http://i.imgur.com/rJoeLdv.png

[TIBIKE200]

1) You look proportionate with the skates

2) It seems you have mild scoliosis work on your posture and go and see someone for it

3) short wingspan with somewhat long arms mean you have narrow shoulders

[Jack1066]

You've grown an inch in a year and might get another inch or two (although you seem to have finished your growth spurt, which typically gives you 2 inches a year)- if your growth rate has been decreasing in a similar manner to the average, it should decrease at 0.4 inches a year, so as you grew 1 inch this year, next year it should be something like 0.6 inches.

That's the average, obviously everyone is different, just trying to give an idea.

Your arms might have fused- they fuse first- and might not grow any longer. They are fairly long for your height already.

So you might already get to around 175 by the time you are 18 and who knows, you may even grow taller.

alcohol and smoking probably won't mess with your growth too much but the evidence is kind of inconclusive. Smoking especially might stunt your growth by about an inch: http://www.livestrong.com/article/216947-does-smoking-cigarettes-stunt-growth/
But it sounds like you haven't smoked for that long.


I'd recommend stopping anyway, I did a lot of drugs, drinking and I smoked as a teenager and it was very bad for my health- I regret it now...

[YungGud]

Very unlikely u will  get anything more than an inch at 16 ,and yes u will look proportional with this amount of cm

[jakejake98]

Thanks for the reply guys, well I Guess I'll wait until I'm 17-18 to get the surgery? I'm planning to get 5cm on femurs and 5 on Tibias, is this recommended? How much will It averagely cost, in how long time will I be able to walk? I'm planning in doing this surgery at 17, will I be suitable for the army by 18 or probably not..

Either ways, my greater concerns aren't about being able to run and be athletic, I just don't want to walk weirdly, so will I be able to walk normal after these lengthenings? If so, in how Long time?

[jakejake98]

Also, my arm length is smaller when I'm at this height to my 6'2 Friend, is that normal for a 5'11-6'2 ratio?

I figured out how to edit, btw guys my wingspan is 172cm but my arm length is 76 cm (30"), since my arm length is of a guy of over 175cm+ I think I'll look proportional to other people of my 'new height', that is not the problem now for me. My concerns now are recovering and how well I'll recover, since I'm a really fast runner (10.024 seconds /100m), will I ever be able to compete at these speeds again?

If not, will I at least walk normal?

[onemorefoot]

Forget competitive levels, if you lengthen 5 cm per segment, you can recover Up to a good level, but never competitive

[Thatdude950]

Also, my arm length is smaller when I'm at this height to my 6'2 Friend, is that normal for a 5'11-6'2 ratio?

I figured out how to edit, btw guys my wingspan is 172cm but my arm length is 76 cm (30"), since my arm length is of a guy of over 175cm+ I think I'll look proportional to other people of my 'new height', that is not the problem now for me. My concerns now are recovering and how well I'll recover, since I'm a really fast runner (10.024 seconds /100m), will I ever be able to compete at these speeds again?

If not, will I at least walk normal?

Your 100m time will drop to, at best 17-18 seconds. And I think even that is pushing it. More likely 20s or worse. You should see these guys try run even a few years post surgery. Seriously slow.  And I think your time is BS btw, that's quicker than my regions succesful qualifying time for the 100 in Rio.

[Thatdude950]

Forget competitive levels, if you lengthen 5 cm per segment, you can recover Up to a good level, but never competitive

I wish this "good" recovery meme in regards to athletics ability would die. No sport that involves running considers a 20 second+ 100m good. None.

[onemorefoot]

I wish this "good" recovery meme in regards to athletics ability would die. No sport that involves running considers a 20 second+ 100m good. None.

You have to keep in mind that good for me is not for an Athletic person, as long as I am able to walk,jump And run I dont care about times or distances, if you love your sport, forget about this

[jakejake98]

A lot of people tell me they think I'm lying about my 100m speed until they see me running, I run at one of the best speeds of my age in Singapore, even though I don't really care about my speed because no one will notice it until I beat the world record which is like at 9.6 or smth. All I know is that when I was timed by the P.E Athletes my record was a little over 10 and they were impressed because that is considered professional level, even though all records have been set below 10, so a little under 10.1 is not all that impressive nowadays.

If your regions best doesn't have anyone below 10, then that's a slow place, because no Olympic for men will let anyone run unless they have a chance to beat the world record and if they run at 10+/100m, obviously they won't be signed up.

And that means that I would be running slower than a lot of slow/overweight guys? Since usually in my school the average slow guys run at about 16 seconds / 100 m

In 10 years time after the surgery, it won't be possible to increase the score? It doesn't bother me anyways, just that 20 seconds in 100 meters is too slow to be true. That time is like jogging speed or a quick walking speed.

[Thatdude950]

A lot of people tell me they think I'm lying about my 100m speed until they see me running, I run at one of the best speeds of my age in Singapore, even though I don't really care about my speed because no one will notice it until I beat the world record which is like at 9.6 or smth. All I know is that when I was timed by the P.E Athletes my record was a little over 10 and they were impressed because that is considered professional level, even though all records have been set below 10, so a little under 10.1 is not all that impressive nowadays.

If your regions best doesn't have anyone below 10, then that's a slow place, because no Olympic for men will let anyone run unless they have a chance to beat the world record and if they run at 10+/100m, obviously they won't be signed up.

And that means that I would be running slower than a lot of slow/overweight guys? Since usually in my school the average slow guys run at about 16 seconds / 100 m

In 10 years time after the surgery, it won't be possible to increase the score? It doesn't bother me anyways, just that 20 seconds in 100 meters is too slow to be true. That time is like jogging speed or a quick walking speed.

In Oceania the qualifying time was 10.28 (I think). And no they don't just let potential world record breakers into the Olympics lol I don't think you know how the qualifying process works (google eric the eel)

And yes, you will be probably be that slow. I've been reading these forums for years. In all those years there has not been a single piece of video evidence showing a strong squat or sprint after surgery. That's out of 100's of diaries

On the other hand there have been plenty of horror stories.

If you wanna be fast you're crazy to consider this

btw a 20 second 100m is equal to a 5 minute 1500m. so it's hardly a quick walk- id call it a fast jog. Still slow though.

[Body Builder]

I wonder how some people want to break their legs, stretch them and won't be happy with avoiding all probable complications (malunions, nonunions, infections etc) and walk normal and still have some sport abilities (maybe less than 85% as before LL) but they want to become 7-10 cm taller and still be capable as before LL.

This is impossible.
If someone really wants the height he would be ok with walking normally with no pains and still be able to run but slower and less distances than before.
Everyone else in reality is not a good candidate for LL and even he doesn't really want is or he won't be able to handle all what it needs (motivation, pain, etc) to have a successful surgery.

[jakejake98]

I've decided that I don't mind running slow, as long as I can run, I won't care whether it's slow but that I can do it for exercise purposes.

My problem now is the proportions, everyone who saw my picture, are my legs on the Long side or short side? With this lengthening will I look normal? About how much will it cost?

Thank you lads.

Also, should I take a pic without the trousers to see if the proportions will be more judgeable? Also I showed a Friend and he said even look better in the picture with roller skates than without

[vegeta24]

to answer your question, your legs are already on the long side. The picture on the right kind of proportions is usually only found in african americans singe they have longer limbs/shorter torsos on average. I have seen caucasians with proportions like that but it's pretty rare. A lot of people in real life are leggy. Anyway, you have a small build (bone structure wise) so you will look less proportionate than someone with a big skeletal frame.

There is arm lengthening to improve your arm length, but then again they can only do the humerus which in my opinion is less aesthetic than if it were the forearms but at-least your arms will hang down lower. Basically your proportions are somewhat unfortunate (small frame, long legs). Your humerus is already longer than your forearms and if you lengthen them the ratio look weird, but then again that's the sacrifice.

If you want 10cm you're going to have to accept that your proportions are going to be further away from the norm. Torso length cannot be fixed but arm length can so you can always get AL if you want.

[jakejake98]

I don't know what to think anymore.

I dwarf all my 5'7 friends in sitting height, I actually have like almost the same sitting height as one of my 187cm friends which is ridiculous.

My dad has short legs and I've been told I have too.

For e.g in this picture http://i.imgur.com/kvqdxrU.png,
 my legs look really short and that's how they look in real life.

And also comparing leg length with my friends (sitting-wise) I have shorter than them, like a pretty big difference. I think I have +6 cm sitting height over them. Like all of them, my sitting height is bigger.

[jakejake98]

I did a terrible job at editing, but this is what I would look like with underwear: http://i.imgur.com/dFFiXeH.png

I do look somewhat long legged but I think no one will ever guess I had LL unless I met one of the guys in this forum :] or maybe not even they could guess.

Plus I'm only considering this, but if I was to do it, would I look good?
The message above mine made me doubt the surgery even more.

[vegeta24]

My bad I was looking at the picture of you in the adidas joggers. You look to have scoliosis? You need to get that checked out with a chiro ASAP. Okay now, you actually look pretty good in this picture on the right http://imgur.com/dFFiXeH but as you can see you look long-legged, but you're right in saying people won't think you look abnormal. A lot of african american's have proportions like that. Personally after looking at the other picture I now think your proportions leg-torso wise can handle it and you won't look weird. You do need to realize if you do that much. Your arms do look short on the right, but people don't even subconsciously notice arm length, that's how unimportant it unless it looks really short they notice something like build more. Yes I do think you can handle LL proportion wise, but understand that doing 10cm will be a huge toll on your body and athletically you will never be the same. I personally can't even imagine doing 10cm, I can't imagine the problems later in life but it will effect everyone differently.

[TIBIKE200]

How did you do the editing? Did you put the skates again or lengthened both femurs and tibias?

[jakejake98]

Thanks for the replies, about the sciolosis, I showed a Friend and his Cousin has it and he says I don't look anything near to him, but idk. Showed my mum too, she said it doesn't look like it but maybe I have bad posture, cus I game a lot.

I know I'll never be the same athletic wise but tbh, I rather be tall than sporty. I feel really insecure walking around when 70% who pass me are about 6 foot. And I'm here being 5'7. If only a few people would make me insecure, the 6ft ones I wouldn't mind, but this is a constant reminder of how short I am. (I know there are shorter people but being under 5'8-9 is considered short where I'm from, in fact, even 5'11 is a little short.", but imo, it will boost up my confidence by light years.

And the editing was done again by putting on the roller skates and moving my tibia up a little, my knee down and my femur down. Thank you guys.

[jakejake98]

Also guys, who's the best LL doctor? That patients who've made diaries have had good recoveries?

And if possible, can I have 3-5 good doctor names and the average cost of their surgeries.

Thank you

[KiloKAHN]

Best leg lengthening doctor is a very subjective topic. What could be great for one could be horrible for another. Be careful of diaries, too. It shows one point of view, but there's many instances where people could have left things out intentionally or unintentionally, and it could lead to making a decision in doctor that you later regret. Even having personal consultations to make a decision doesn't work out all the time, as a medical doctor could sound completely confident and a person without specialty training in the Ilizarov method would be none the wiser if they were speaking bs.

If in the US, Dr Paley and Dr Rozbruch are the top two names, although Dr Conway in Baltimore would be another doctor I'd look into because she did her training with Dr Paley and Dr Herzenberg (Herzenberg is another big name but all cosmetic cases are done by Dr Conway and Herzenberg does strictly injuries/deformities).

Europe seems to be a total crapshoot as of now. Betz and Guichet were the top two names, but as time went on more patients from both of them came out and said some very damning things about them. Same with Dr Monegal, having both supporters and detractors. Drs Pili and Catagni seem like they could potentially be good options. I haven't heard any bad things as of yet about their services, though I remember in the old forum prior patients of Catagni said that the way his frames are installed makes wearing them a nightmare.

If you're okay with going to India, Dr Parihar is the only doctor who hasn't had any major complaints brought against him. All other doctors, even the ones with impressive credentials have seemed to have so-so to disastrous results. Well, maybe Dr Dhawan might be another good choice. I haven't been able to gauge whether his prior patients would recommend him or not.

If you're okay with going to South Africa, Dr Birkholtz seems like he'd be a good bet and a prior patient of his had good things to say.

[Thatdude950]

Just watched the qualifiers for 100m in the 1988 Olympics. The winning times that I saw were 9.99, 10.12, 10.16 (x2) & 10.24. Your time would probably have put you in the top 3 in each of them, & won the last one.

So, either you have a serious chance at a career as a professional sprinter, & would be crazy to break your legs-- or you are just full of crap. I think it's probably the latter.