Quote from: MajinVegeta on January 19, 2022, 10:57:21 AMThe only person I've been with for a significant time was 4'11, and women that small are rare, and even they want someone approaching 6'.
Yep. Dad's 6'1, mom's 4'11. Guess why I'm here. 
QuoteI refuse to get a mail order bride or prey on women in 3rd world counties, I'm just not going to do it. This is kind of my last ditch effort.
Usually the guy ends up being the prey in that situation, so that's for the best.
QuoteI'm hoping for 3". I've read that the usual 1mm a day is detrimental and that .66mm a day is much safer and results in less complications.
It's not a decision for the patient to make. It depends on your rate of bone healing. You have to keep stretching them apart fast enough to stop them from prematurely consolidating. I started out doing .66mm and ended doing 1.33mm per day.
QuoteAfter that, I'll be wearing 2 or 3" lifts. Time is not an issue. Physical pain during the procedure is not an issue. My only issuse are that I'm afraid lasting chronic pain, as I can tolerate pain if i know it will end at some point, never being able to run or do weighted squats again, or other complcations, as well as money because as I've said, it's effected my work life because I dont get treated like an adult, so cost is another big factor. I dont want to fk it up and get a bottom of the barrel "doctor" who will break your legs for you in an ally, stretch em out for you and send you on your way, but I also definitely cannot afford the exorbitant USA prices.
You sound like me in 2007. But I know from experience that average height is plenty. I think your life will improve significantly and you won't need lifts to have a good life at 5'9 - 5'10.
QuoteWhat is the safest method? I dont care how long it will take. How cheaply can I do it without having to resort to a quack? What does "full recovery" look like, and is it even possible? Weight lifting means a lot to me, and it would be quite a loss if I can't do barbell squats anymore, but if I need to sacrifice that then fine.
The safest method is pure external tibias with Ilizarov frames, although not everyone can even get to 3" through that method. I did it but now have exertional compartment syndrome in my tibialis anterior muscles due to the change in biomechanics affecting my walk. Even just walking became a tough workout for those muscles. They got huge and I had to get fasciotomy surgery to treat the condition. They still are huge. Great surgical treatment for bird legs. 
You can almost definitely get 3" on femurs, but external femur lengthening is extremely painful and damaging to surrounding tissues, leaves big scars, and is generally discouraged.
You'll be wearing fixators for about nine months for 3" if you go for pure externals. If you do LON or LATN you can get out of the fixators as soon as you're done lengthening and then consolidate while an internal nail holds your leg together. These two will be your only options at 20K. Internal nails cost about that much to the doctor just to buy from the manufacturers, and there aren't cheap 3rd world internal nails. Several of us in Beijing tried to convince Professor Xia to make a Chinese knock-off ISKD but he didn't want to.
Full recovery means slightly worse balance and agility due to altered biomechanics. You can still hit the gym but squats will be harder with longer femurs. Elongated tibias don't affect that as much because they remain mostly vertical during the rep. But at 5'10 I stopped caring about being muscular. I got rid of my home gym about a year after LL.