I'm a 22 year old American guy. I'm 5'10 (a bit over in the morning, a bit under at night) and a lean 160 lbs. I hit the gym and would say I'm an average athlete with an above-average physique. My desire for limb lengthening has started in the few months as I've become obsessed with my less than ideal height. Growing up I was short; I was consistently the shortest guy in my K-8 grade of 50 guys through 8th grade. However, my father is 6'2 (with his two brothers and a father all 6'3) and my pediatrician told me at my annual checkups that I, like my father, was going to grow exceptionally late and end up 6'-6'3".
Naturally, I was very excited about this prospect. I was frequently picked on due to my height. My sophomore year I even got in a fight with a much larger football player. You can only imagine how much the 4'10 13 year old version of me looked forward to being the same height as James Bond and Derek Jeter and Han Solo and my father. Up until about a year ago, I believed this story as I didn't have my first real growth spurt until my junior year of high school and was still growing, albeit slowly throughout college. I graduated high school at 5'8 and grew to 5'10 by age 21. However, I now believe I have stopped growing and will be stuck at 5'10. On a side note, I blame my inability to meet my height on gastrointestinal /asthma issues I had in my early childhood. I remember reading a study that children who had inhalers were 2 inches shorter than their peers and my inability to keep down meals certainly didn't help.
While 5'10 may not sound too bad (it isn't, its a fine height) I am upper middle class and white. For my socioeconomic group, I believe the average height is around 5'11, thus at 5'10 I am often towered over. What's more, the women and girls in my socioeconomic group tend to favor guys in the 6'+ range and I know taller guys have an advantage in business and employment. In fact, it is that knowledge that rationalizes this decision in my mind. If at some point in my career I am in line for an executive position that could confer hundreds of thousands of dollars more in income, I would hate for my relative shortness to be the reason I don't get the position.
My younger brother is 16 and already 5'9. His doctor says he should be in the 6' to 6'2 range. It is already humiliating at my family reunions with my father and his brothers and their sons all in the 6'1 to 6'4 range. It won't be any better when my younger brother joins them in a few years.
I think I have a few advantages to making this happen. First of all, having a tall father and family will make my increased height more believable. Secondly, at 5'10, adding 5-7 centimeters should be less of a burden on my body than say adding that amount to someone 5'5. Thirdly, I think I can brush off my growth rather easily by wearing half inch, then inch lifts for the 6 months prior to surgery, and then transitioning from Nike Air Max's and Oxford to Vans and Loafers for the first year or so after my surgery. It is worth mentioning, if I get this surgery I'd like to take this secret with me to the grave and confide in no one. My largest advantage is my financial liquidity. I work in a career that allows me to save up money rather quickly. If I wanted to get to $50,000 and a 3 month leave, all it would take is a good bonus season, and a job change.
I want this badly. I do not have low self-esteem; on the contrary I think I'm a bit of a narcissist. I hate thinking that I could be with a girl who desires, on any level, to be with someone else. With a high-powered, prestigious career, bodybuilder physique (working towards it at least), and handsome face, the only thing I'm missing is that 6' to 6'3 ideal height. Please, someone talk me out of this or otherwise tell me my logic is sound. As you can see, I've thought about this an absurd amount and need to either turn my vision into reality or cut bait and think about something else.
Hi Alittletooshort,
I agree. 5'10 is not that bad. I'm approaching this all from a cost benefit analysis.
The measurable costs are 50-80 grand depending on the method as well as 3 months without being able to support my own weight. I will likely lose a bit of athleticism if I do more than 4cm (which is as little as I'd do) but I'm not that athletic and am encouraged by people gaining most of their strength back. I'm not too worried about the pain; I've always been very pain resilient.
On the career side, an extra 2 to 2.5 inches will likely pay dividends for the next 50 years in subtle, perhaps immeasurable ways. I have little doubt that in the long run it is the right financial decision; if it all adds up to just a 5% boost on my lifetime earnings then, given I hope to make at least an average of $150k for my career, that comes out to 300k extra in income (assuming 40 more years of working). All of those assumptions are conservative. I already make $110k, I think a 5% boost is very conservative, and 40 years would assume I retire at 62, which is exceptionally low. With a 10% boost, 300k average income, and 40 years of work, those financial benefits shoot up to $1.2 MM.
The social benefits would also be dramatic. I think I'm very handsome. I might give myself an 8.5 on the "handsome scale" but only a 7 on the "hot" scale (something I've heard from several girls, including my current GF). I think it is hard to be "hot" without having an athletic presence. Even at my peak physical condition, when I was a lean 165 lbs with solid strength numbers, I didn't quite look like an athlete while I wore clothes. At 6 feet tall, I think I could pass for an athlete. That way, if I ever broke up with my GF I could go out at singles bars and not get caught in the frustrating cycle of being not-quite-hot-enough to pick up girls consistently. Outside of picking up girls, I think my fellow guy friends would convey more respect, as dumb as it sounds, to me if I were a bit taller. Truthfully, I don't value this potential effect as I'm a bit of a loner anyway.
Finally, the self-confidence boost would also be immense. I'm tired of thinking about height 10 times a day, measuring myself against my co-workers and people I walk by on the street. If I was in the 80th or so percentile and was only towered (I think 3 inch delta leads to being towered) every once in a while instead of every day, I think I'd forget about height. I know that a psychiatrist might also help for this. I've never really been the psychiatrist type; while it is easy to confide in strangers with the help of anonymity, I don't think I'd ever be comfortable confiding in a stranger. In fact, I remember when I was very young and had some psychological troubles in elementary school (acted out, had been lightly slapped around at home and had to talk to people at school) I ended up lying to the social workers to mislead them about the situation rather than talk to them.
As you can see, the cost benefit analysis checks out. The hardest cost to account for is the opportunity cost. 3 months in a wheelchair are 3 months of the prime of my life spent reading, playing video games, and watching TV. What's more, in just a few years there might be a better alternative that comes out. I saw something about a nearly instant 3cm gain that costs quite a bit less. Considering I am aiming for 4-6 cm, 3 might be good enough. I could do some yoga and maybe wear a 1cm lift and get the remaining centimeters that way. If anyone knows anything more about alternatives to LL or the potential to stretch or use microfractures to gain incremental height, I'm all ears.
I don't know what this comment adds. It doesn't really matter whether you think I am or am not handsome. I have no one to talk to in real life about this subject and its nice to write down and record my thoughts with the chance for someone to add insight. For what its worth, I have some some good benchmarks for my handsomeness. Most importantly, as a guy, I have good hygiene and am in good shape. That alone can put a guy in the 60th percentile.
Fair enough. Like I said, I kind of just wanted to get my thoughts on paper. Maybe I'll delete this thread.
Quote from: PatientZero on December 27, 2015, 08:32:04 PMYou serious about not having low self-esteem? You're much taller than the guys on this forum, and is thinking about breaking 2 functional limbs to satisfy your inner vanity. Every prospective patient on this forum has a mental illness and low self confidence.
I was 5'4" before surgery, which leads me to think that you are a weak man for not being able to conquer your social shortcomings, despite having 'everything' and an average height of 5'10. This is a problem that we created in our heads, and ours alone.
Most of us here are shorter than you, and would suggest that you build on the great life that you already have. That said, there are some folks in the Nordics who feel absolutely short at 5'10 in their home country and end up doing this surgery.
I have two broken legs right now and am thinking why would anyone do this to themselves? And why are there so many 5'10 guys in the forum lately? You guys are stupid crazy (as am I).
Good luck and do more research--I think you are overly optimistic about 3 months of downtime.
I think the social class I'm in is not unlike the Nordic countries in height as there are many WASPs and other Northern Europeans. Not having self-esteem issues is of course not true. My personality type is such that unless everything is perfect, it is not good enough. I hold my body to that standard which has many upsides, with the downside being my dislike of my height. My point was I don't really think its about attractiveness for me. And, like I said, I think it will pay off financially in the long run.
With regards to the 3 months of downtime. My calculation was a week for hospital stay, 2.5 months of lengthening (.67 MM * 75 days comes out to roughly 5 centimeters) and then another week to get the nails removed (I would do internal). At that point I could be on crutches and go back to work. This is roughly the timeline I've seen from others.
Hi DIFM,
I just ready your diary in its entirety and was very fascinated and a little disturbed. I had no idea the necessity for painkillers was that severe. In my mind the surgery had been as simple as "break, stretch, heal", with six months and 75k spent but the permanent advantage of an extra couple inches gained. I also think I drastically underestimated how much height one can gain. Going from 167 to 175 is an increase of roughly 5%. For some reason, I had thought 4-6 centimeters was the normal range. Still, I wouldn't want more than 5 maybe 6 cms in my case as all I really want is that 6 foot status, which I think would enable me to be tall enough to be on the tall side while still retaining a blocky, thick look that I think complements the rest of my features.
Thanks to your diary, I have changed my mind about this surgery. Unless the circumstances are absolutely perfect (good cheap surgeon, time off from career, maybe being single again) I don't think I'll go through with this.. After all, I could pop in inch high lifts and maybe spend more time stretching in the gym and thus get 60% of the benefit of the surgery without the pain, misery, and financial cost. Thanks for sharing!
Also, I disagree with that study as a means of approximating my situation. While it might explain how height affects people generally, it a) can not possibly be used in careers of people making several times the median amount and b) clearly does not explain the obvious bias American corporstions have for tall executives.
Quote from: Ozymandias on January 01, 2016, 07:44:41 PM\
No, going from "average" to "tall" is not more important than going to "very short" to "short", or from "short" to "average". The fact that you are saying this proves me that you have never faced any height discrimination, and that you are probably trying to attribute any minor issue you are having in your daily life to a false self-perception of not being tall enough. But you are 184, for gods sake. You are a tall guy. Even in the tallest country of the world, you are at least average. It does not sound bad at all, does it?
When you are average height, you get no height discrimination. Plain and simple. You're confusing "discrimination" with "lack of privileges". There is a guy in this forum who was fired from his sales position for being too short. That is an example of real discrimination. And I know a few more extreme cases. Just think for a second how CLL can change the life of a guy going from short / very short to average. In my honest opinion, if your only reason to consider CLL is getting more female attention, you should forget about it. Especially if you are already an average/tall guy, like is your case.
But, of course, it is your body, and it is you money. If you are honestly decided to go through this surgery, god luck. Just be sure it is what you really need.
I disagree with this post big time. Picture a normal curve:
Let's assume average height is 5'10 and the standard deviation for height is about 2 inches.
That means about 2/3s of people are 5'8 to 6' with 1/6th above and 1/6th below. Note: In Netherlands its more like 2/3s between 5'9.5 to 6'1.5. That means if a person who is 5'8 gets 4 inches extension he will leapfrog 2 out of 3 men in terms of height. If he gets just 2 inches he will go from being the shortest or second short out of 6 people to the 3rd shortest.
From my perspective, 2 inches will take me from the 50th to 80th percentile, which I think is the ideal place to be. That is pretty much the same for Moloko.
If a person who is 5'5 gets 2 inches taller, he is now 5'7. In his mind and in the eyes of many woman this makes a world of difference. But from the perspective of 80% of men, he is still short. He has only leapfrogged about 6% of the population.
EDIT: Having said that, Moloko I advise you look up real statistics about the height of men in Netherlands to get a more objective sense of how tall people are. The average height is not 6'1, despite what one study might say. Based on the average height of the various Scandinavian countries (a large enough sample of genetically similar people to take out bias inherent in each study) I would imagine the average height is more like 5'11.5-6'. This means you are on the taller side of average, maybe 55th to 60th percentile. Another 2 inches would get you right up to the 85th percentile without hampering your athletic ability too much. That is my plan but feel free to go ahead with whatever you desire!
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