Hi all — I am not sure who is the best person to answer this (hopefully past patients), but I have read a lot of diaries here which (perhaps rightly so) venerate the height bump. However, there has to be someone who thinks this surgery was underwhelming. There is a lot of girls racially profiling guys, so no matter what your height is if a girl is shallow, height won't beat it. Is the claim that height is a bigger factor than other social factors (money, facial features, race) for men.
And then I wonder when people (excluding dating scenarios) see you with the increased height, do they really respect you more or less? I know we will in a shallow world, but is that very prevalent and obvious in real life?
I've written about this a bit in my diary, which you'll find in my signature. I try to talk about this now because before I did my surgery there was very little to no information about peoples experience with dating and women post-surgery. So I am happy to talk about this.
Like others have written, "do this surgery for yourself and not for others". While I do agree with this 100%, it is hard to ignore that we actually do live in a world full of "others" and how others perceive us has a huge impact on how we experience life.
Pre-surgery I was a quite successful and relatively popular guy with a sizeable social media following. I had very good confidence, dressed well and was in good shape. Being in my mid 30's I'd been told or heard that I am handsome or good looking maybe 5-10 times since the age of 13. In that perspective I'd gotten those compliments once every blue moon in a period of over 20 years. Sure I have had a few very pretty girl friends and some very pretty women being interested in me, but to most women I did feel invisible. This discrepancy was strange at first, but as I got older it started to f*** with me and bothered me more and more. How could a few select hot women find me hot, while most average women would ignore me. It just didn't make any sense.
I then started to look into height, and found study after study pointing to short stature being the main reason. At first, I was sceptical. But the more I looked into it the more it made sense. At this point already wanted to do LLS, but not for dating reasons. I've always felt bigger than my body was, I just felt a mismatch between how I felt and the small person I saw in the mirror. But be honest, all the research about how height affects your attractiveness did help push me over the line. That being said, I did tell myself I would still be happy if the attention from women did not increase one bit, because at least I wouldn't be short - and normal height would benefit me in other ways.
January 14th 2022 I underwent surgery, and a little more than five months later I had grown from 165cm, to 177cm, or 11,5cm. It took me another 10-11 months to recover to part I felt I could go out drinking, clubbing and socializing in public. Being 177cm tall in a northern European country is still slightly below average according to studies, but in reality I feel average now. I think those studies should be taken with a grain of salt as most use self-reported numbers. Either way, being 1 or 3 cm shorter than the average male isn't going to make it or break it for most women.
I started going out again in may, and through the summer i have been out about twice just about every weekend. So sizeable amount of times at my new height, meaning I already have a lot of experience being 177cm and going out. The newfound attention from women threw me off at first, as I really didn't want to be biased either way. Taking every interaction with a grain of salt, and trying to be as objective as possible. I even wrote down a list of kisses, hookups, girls being interested, compliments, flings and girl friends etc pre surgery, and started taking notes post surgery to compare as objective as possbile.
!!!DISCLAIMER BEFORE I REVEAL MY EXPERIENCE!!!
In my country I went from being shorter than the average women to being about as tall as the average man. I also did lengthen what would be considered extreme for most people. I have great mental health and success in life, and did not do this surgery solely for dating. I do think I was handsome before surgery, but was limited because of my height. With all this being said I do think I had the best case scenario and my circumstances where optimal for achieve the best results possbile. Do not expect these results If you already are closer to or are actually around average height. And do not expect these results if you are an average looking guy, I am just being honest - and you'll understand once you read my experience.
Before going out I already noticed more women looking at me in public, at first I thought it was the crutches, and as I ditched those I thought it was the strange and stiff walk, but as I started walking normal the looks and stares from women didn't go away. Then I noticed it from women while going out. First time i really noticed change was out at this mini-golf bar and these two girls started taking to us the minute we walked in. The blond started at me all night. Later that night we got separated, and I texted here "where did you go" and she replied, "home, wanna come over?". Just to be clear, I have never had this happen to me before with a girl I just met.
As I started to go out more and more I would experience more and more positive attention from women. Being approached about once every night out, random women calling me handsome or good looking straight to my face, random girls coming up trying to kiss or make out with me, random girls coming over and sitting down on my lap, random girls trying to dance with me at night clubs. On the other hand I felt I could approach just about any girl and strike up a conversation. Most times women would be positive and flirty back, and very seldom would i experience a cold shoulder.
In the past five months I have gotten more compliments, been approached by more women, had more random hookups, gotten more numbers, snaps or IGs that from the age of 13 to 35 combined. After trying to not to be biased, as objective as possbile, and as humble as possbile. My self image has now changed for the better. It feels strange to write this, but from my experience the past five months I now accept that I am handsome, good looking or what people might refer to as a chad. I can't explain how good all of this does feel, and is something I NEVER expected. Not at all.