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[the_lilypad]

Hi y'all,
First time poster, long time lurker. I'm a 5'11 woman, and I've been occasionally in contact with Dr. Betz's clinic, where they mentioned for 30,000 euros they can shave about 2-3 inches off my height with a femur shortening procedure. I'm not really a stranger to osteotomies; this past year I did clavicle reduction with Dr. Leif Rogers, which wasn't honestly that bad.
I've read some stories on here mainly that Betz is kind of a charlatan, and... I'm not sure how to like discuss this with doctors without sounding crazy (it's definitely crazy, but medically safe/unsafe is more my worry). I also read a really bad story with Dr. Sarin from a member named olivetree, but I guess from gleanings on here Betz seems to be more reputable than Sarin anyway.
Are there any other surgeons who do it, especially those in the States?
From what Betz said, it seems like it would require a 10 day hospital stay, but it didn't sound like extensive PT was needed. I'm planning on inquiring a bit more about how many patients he's done it for. In particular, this was their response to my questions:

"The given cost of 30.000 € is still valid.
You will be able to walk with crutches. You will feel a certain instability because of the shorter bone, the muscles won’t have their former tension. But it will come back during a few weeks. Physical therapy is helpful for the new “remodelling” of the muscles.
Normally, you can shorten max. around 5-6 cm. This should be possible with your current height.
Normally, the patient has to come personally to a consultation. We don’t do it by video. The consultation fee is 500 € including x-rays and measurements.
Yes, he did some limb shortening surgeries. They are not that often than limb lengthening but since 2-3 years more and more people are coming for shortening surgery."

Any thoughts? I also messaged Dr. Mahboubian who does limb lengthening in Los Angeles, CA (I'm in Bay Area) and his clinic does not do this.

[daikioni]

Did you try to contact dr. Paley?

[the_lilypad]

I just sent his clinic an email/live chat, but I haven't heard back. Any other surgeons are known for it?

[Sweden]

You are perfect and want to mess up yourself. Alright. It’s your life.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

I know of at least one Dr. Sarin case.

[..]

You are perfect and want to mess up yourself. Alright. It’s your life.

Actually 5'11 is kind of too tall for women. 5'6"-5'8" is where it's perfect.

[the_lilypad]

Yeah I don't want that. I'm hoping someone in the US does it. I'm a software engineer so cost isn't a huge concern to me, but not being a cripple or looking bizarre is a big one. From what I've read Betz is fairly legit, but I'm still skeptical.

[Montreal172]

1- Try to do a scan of a test to determine if you have a leg length discrepancy. Go to a doc, say your gait is off, and you feel like one leg is longer.
2- Once you do (assuming there is one, almost everyone has some LLD), then try get a consult with Dr. Paley.
3- On the bright side surgery might be fully and partially covered by your insurance, since it is a congenital defect, and you could do it at home.

[limewalk]

If Dror Paley refuses to do this I would reconsider it.

[hanshi]

At 5'11 you have the perfect height for a top model. Why on earth would you want to desecrate your beautiful body? Not to mention the permanent damage to your health and the crazy risk involved. Long legs are an asset, they look beautiful.

As to Dr. Betz, I don't know whether you have read this thread:
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=64558.msg168267#msg168267

Take the money and go on a vacation or invest it. Don't throw away what god has blessed you with.

[limewalk]

At 5'11 you have the perfect height for a top model. Why on earth would you want to desecrate your beautiful body? Not to mention the permanent damage to your health and the crazy risk involved. Long legs are an asset, they look beautiful.

As to Dr. Betz, I don't know whether you have read this thread:
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=64558.msg168267#msg168267

Take the money and go on a vacation or invest it. Don't throw away what god has blessed you with.

5'11 is quite tall for a woman. Being tall is just one of manny qualities models have . For an average woman being 5'11 is very similar in situation to being a short guy.

I don't know how safe shortening is however. Are there any research published on this? ?

[hanshi]

5'11 is quite tall for a woman. Being tall is just one of manny qualities models have . For an average woman being 5'11 is very similar in situation to being a short guy.

This is a very stupid thing to say. Top models are mostly tall. That's because tall is considered beautiful. Short men are not considered beautiful. 5'11 is tall for a woman but not super tall. In some Countries like the Netherlands this would be almost average for females.

[limewalk]

This is a very stupid thing to say. Top models are mostly tall. That's because tall is considered beautiful. Short men are not considered beautiful. 5'11 is tall for a woman but not super tall. In some Countries like the Netherlands this would be almost average for females.

If she lives in Netherlands and the average female height there is almost 5'11 then you are right.

[short]

5'11 is quite tall for a woman. Being tall is just one of manny qualities models have . For an average woman being 5'11 is very similar in situation to being a short guy.

I don't know how safe shortening is however. Are there any research published on this? ?

No it's not similar.

And shortening is a lot more dangerous than lengthening.

[the_lilypad]

I think it's actually the opposite. I'm not sure why you would think it would be more dangerous. The only real complications would be mal-union or potential muscle/tendon laxity, although I'm not sure over the scale discussed (2-3 inches) it's a significant concern.

Also brief update, reached out to Rozbruch - he also does it apparently, but he charges about the same as limb lengthening cases (which is kind of bizarre). I'm getting some more info on that -- I would think the costs would be significantly less.

[hanshi]

I think it's actually the opposite. I'm not sure why you would think it would be more dangerous. The only real complications would be mal-union or potential muscle/tendon laxity, although I'm not sure over the scale discussed (2-3 inches) it's a significant concern.

Also brief update, reached out to Rozbruch - he also does it apparently, but he charges about the same as limb lengthening cases (which is kind of bizarre). I'm getting some more info on that -- I would think the costs would be significantly less.

Your reply seems a bit naive. Think about it: the femur needs to be cut twice and the middle piece needs to be removed. After that you get nailed with a trauma nail. Therefore the procedure is like an open fracture. The chance to get a bone infection is not negligible here. Did you study what could happen in case of a bone infection?

[TinyTL]

leg shortening is more complicated than lengthening as the others have mentioned.
Also you can expect more decreased physical abilities than a lengthening.

The muscles and tendons play a big role in limiting our legs range and flexibility when sitting, walking, running, jumping etc.
What happens when you shorten the leg and muscles/tendons have extra centimeters of slack. Its gonna have consequences for your body.

[the_lilypad]

leg shortening is more complicated than lengthening as the others have mentioned.
Also you can expect more decreased physical abilities than a lengthening.

The muscles and tendons play a big role in limiting our legs range and flexibility when sitting, walking, running, jumping etc.
What happens when you shorten the leg and muscles/tendons have extra centimeters of slack. Its gonna have consequences for your body.

I'm not sure why you and the previous poster think this is the case. I've actually done a lot of research on this. Leg shortening is usually preferred over leg lengthening for short discrepancies, and the risk of infection is about the same.
Additionally, from readings on femoral shortening almost all of the initial muscle strength is regained; somewhere around 93-96%.

Also update for others interested - Rozbruch is more aggressive, offering 4 inches, with a shortening mode on the internal fixator (how does that even work?). I think 4 inches would be too much though, since it would mess up proportions even more than 2-3.

[the_lilypad]

Update: Contacted Dr. Debiparshad in Las Vegas, his assistant quoted me $30-40k which is much more reasonable. She mentioned they can do up to 6 cm shortening, which on analysis, is probably all I would reasonably go for (since 4 inches I feel could mess up my proportions).

Also mentioned he's done this before, the recovery time is 3 months but I should be able to walk immediately after since it's a lot simpler than lengthening.

[Bruce_x]

Hey Illypad, thanks for keeping us informed about your research. Everyone may think what he wants to. Important is what we get after all.
You are not alone. I sometimes feel this whole idea is too crazy to discuss. But Olivia Jones did it and it was successful. Maybe the doctors payed more attention on her case because she is a celebrity.
Anyway text me if you need a friend on this journey

[TheAlchemist]

While at Paley's in late 2019 I met a female patient who did 3 inch shortening of the femur. By her account and based on my observations, her experience was not as brutal as leg lengthening as she did not have to deal with the intense tightening of the soft tissue that one experiences through lengthening therefore her PT requirements were a lot less demanding.

OP I would reach out to Paley and get a quote. He and and his team are world class.

[Ronin]

Why would you do this? Your proportions would be out of whack with long torso and short legs, not a feature that complements you.

[farfan21]

wow 5'11 is a great height regardless if youre a woman. u should rlly think about this thoroughly before you decide to do so

[Ascending]

Hi Lilypad,

What are you proportions like currently?  Do you have a swimmers body with a long torso and short legs or is it the opposite?  Or are your legs and torso balanced?  I noticed that many tall women have long legs and often a long neck too with the torso more or less average in size.  You should do a mock-up to see how you would look with shortened legs.

5'11 is quite tall for a woman - it is well above the average height for men in most countries.  So I can understand why you might want this surgery but I agree with the others here - I am not sure you will actually benefit from being shorter.

Good luck!

[Sanity]

i know a guy is doing leg-shortening here. and his case was probably a difficult 1 too but he made it through.

[curlyfella]

Who was his doctor? I need it for different leg lenghts myself

[curlyfella]

Update: Contacted Dr. Debiparshad in Las Vegas, his assistant quoted me $30-40k which is much more reasonable. She mentioned they can do up to 6 cm shortening, which on analysis, is probably all I would reasonably go for (since 4 inches I feel could mess up my proportions).

Also mentioned he's done this before, the recovery time is 3 months but I should be able to walk immediately after since it's a lot simpler than lengthening.

What method of shortening?

[curlyfella]

I'm not sure why you and the previous poster think this is the case. I've actually done a lot of research on this. Leg shortening is usually preferred over leg lengthening for short discrepancies, and the risk of infection is about the same.
Additionally, from readings on femoral shortening almost all of the initial muscle strength is regained; somewhere around 93-96%.

Also update for others interested - Rozbruch is more aggressive, offering 4 inches, with a shortening mode on the internal fixator (how does that even work?). I think 4 inches would be too much though, since it would mess up proportions even more than 2-3.

How does he do it with the internal fixator?

[OverSixFeetTall]

Why do you want to reduce your height?

I’m curious which country you’re living in?

Are you having a hard time finding a mate taller than you?

Or do you feel out of place being taller than people around you?

At that height, that’s model status, most people do operations to increase their social attraction.

[Walsandrew]

If OP or anyone else looking at this forum wants to talk about leg shortening, please send me a message.

I am a 6ft4.5 man, who has been thinking about this forever, with extremely disproportionately long legs. My torsoe is the same height as my two brothers who are 5ft10 and 5ft11

I have found that almost all doctors who advertise for leg lengthening have responded to me to say they do it, but I would prefer to use an orthopaedic surgeon in my home city (London), who has tonnes of experience doing shortening surgeries for leg legthening discrepancy.