Controversial and Grueling Procedure Lengthens Limbs, Risks Lives

Dec. 7, 2007 — -- Imagine, if you will, a surgeon breaking your leg bones in four places, then attaching a steel scaffold frame to the outside of your limbs with metal pins jutting into your bones.

Every day for months you rotate screws attached to the pins in your legs. There are many moments of excruciating pain and the constant worry of infection. After that there is a grueling regimen of physical therapy. Now imagine, this was all completely voluntary — in fact, it was your idea.

It's called limb lengthening and for years the procedure was done almost exclusively to correct developmental deformities or repair damage to limbs after an accident. But more and more often the surgery is being done for cosmetic reasons to help people — primarily men — grow a little taller.

At 18 years old, Akash Shukla stood just 4 foot 11. "I would get carded all the time at PG-13 movies. It was really tough to find a date. I didn't know a single other guy who was my height and I was really insecure about it. I just felt like my height was really holding me back in many ways."

Shukla's story is a familiar one to Robert Rozbruch, the director of the Institute for Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction in New York. He estimates that between 5 percent to 10 percent of his patients come to him for cosmetic reasons, although he bristles at the suggestion that limb lengthening could be a new cosmetic frontier.

"Orthopedic surgeons don't do cosmetic surgery. It's not in our normal routine. We do this for a guy who is maybe [5 foot 2] or [5 foot 3] and well adjusted but being short is something that is very disturbing to them. When they walk into a room and they're [5 foot 2] they can't stand it. … When you talk to them you can feel the pain they go through," said Rozbruch.

And beauty buffs beware, this kind of cosmetic surgery isn't like a nose job or liposuction.

Patients in Rozbruch's practice must undergo hours of psychological testing to determine whether they are appropriate candidates for the procedure.

"We weed out the nuts, the ones who just think it would be kind of cool to be taller," said Rozbruch.

Psychologist Ellen Westrich works with Rozbruch in evaluating patients for surgery. Westrich describes a condition called short stature dysphoria where patients are deeply dissatisfied with their height.

"This is an interesting group of patients. … They tend to be extremely successful at work or very focused on their studies. You've heard of the Napoleon complex. In a way, compensating for their height gives them a heightened sense of themselves. They may be very happy with their life but being short makes them very unhappy."

So unhappy, in fact, that they are willing to undergo a very lengthy and punishing procedure.