Short men have it rough. That may be why many of them are opting for leg lengthening surgery. The procedure adds inches, but is it worth it?
The Issue
Shortness can be difficult for men. A 26-year-old man who underwent leg-lengthening surgery to increase his height from 5’7 to 5’10 explained that short men, “routinely get spoken down to just because of this trait that they can’t control.”
Dr. Shahab Mahboubian, a surgeon at the Height Lengthening Institute in Burbank, CA says, “I even have 60, 65-year-old guys that have come to me to undergo the procedure because it just doesn’t stop. The ‘short’ jokes keep going on and they feel inferior”.
The Procedure
Guys will go to great, uh, lengths to add the inches. The four-hour surgery costs $75,000 and is generally not paid for by insurance.
It involves cutting the thigh bones in the legs and inserting rods inside them. The rods lengthen up to 1 millimeter (.04 inches) each day via an external remote control. New bone grows over the rods.
Patients undergo four months of physical therapy. Patients must use a walking device while healing.
The final step involves going back to get the rods removed. The removal procedure and physical therapy cost extra for a total price tag of $100,000.
Leg extension operations are typically performed for reconstructive purposes. For example, they may be used to address discrepancies in leg length. It’s rare for men to get the procedure for cosmetic reasons.
However, more people are opting for the procedure. Mahboubian says he expects to perform 50 leg lengthening surgeries this year as compared to the 20 he did in 2020.
The surgery also comes with risks such as nerve injury, and a loss of range of motion. However, the risk is minimal if the procedure is performed by experienced surgeons.
The Stigma of Being Short
The 26-year-old man reported being so unhappy with his height before the operation that he would walk around his neighborhood and cry.
“Body shaming is wrong, but there’s like a little asterisk of like ‘unless you’re short’. It seems like almost the one unchangeable trait that is just accepted as a societal punching bag,” he explained.
A 2006 study found that only 26% of shorter men were happy with their height while 87% of tall men were happy with their height. A study of heterosexuals published last year shows men prefer to date shorter women while women prefer to date taller men.
Some research suggests being taller may also have economic benefits. A 6-foot person was predicted to earn more than someone who is 5’5 over a 30-year career. Writer Malcolm Gladwell polled the Fortune 50 list and found that 58% of their CEOs were over 6 feet although only 14% of American men are that tall.
Two months after the surgery, the young man feels incredible. But he is reluctant to recommend the surgery to others as that would imply shorter men should change. He targets societal stigmas as the problem instead.
“No one should feel the need to do this,” he says.