Is it normal to want to have limb lengthening surgery?

29% Normal
12 Comments

I have many reasons for wanting to have this surgery but the main reason is that I feel like a failure because of my height. The people on my Father's side of the family are rather tall and almost everyone else on my mother's side is very short... I started puberty when I was 9 years old and everyone including my doctor had very high expectations that I would be tall but it never happened! I ended up being 5ft and 1/2in which in society is viewed as a "acceptable" height for women. I didn't have any insecurities about my height until 1 or 2 years ago.

Around that time period, I started to see many different doctors. From one of them I discovered that I had the genes for Marfan's Syndrome. I have the thinness, longer arms and fingers that are typically associated with the condition but my height doesn't match up. The last doctor, I saw made a comment about how shocked he was that I was so short and it really hurt my feelings...

I started to get very depressed about this very recently. I feel like I'll never be able to properly live my life because of my height. There are so many different fields that I want to work in, one of which is Fashion. What if I won't be taken seriously because of my height? My body is out of proportion. It scares me that I might have less of a chance at romance because my lack of height might make this more noticeable. I've been getting paranoid that whenever I leave a building or a room in public that people might talk about how odd I look or how disappointed they are that I barely grew. I know that I shouldn't care about what others think but I can no longer help it.

This situation I'm in is making me feel like I don't deserve to live. I don't deserve to live because I let everyone down. I let everyone down because I couldn't live up to their expectations... I know that this surgery is very painful but I feel like my life would be so much better if I got it done. It would be beneficial for my overall health. I can't currently get the surgery done for a few reasons, one of which is the cost but I've been planning to move to another country in the future that has free healthcare... Is it normal?

Voting Results
29% Normal
Based on 35 votes (10 yes)
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Comments ( 12 )
  • ProseAthlete
    11 years ago | pl

    You're 1.5 inches shorter than me. I have so far managed to marry well, earn a living doing something I love and have plenty of friends without benefit of surgical help. Also, I can even ride on roller coasters, so there's that.

    Honestly...feeling as though you don't deserve to live because you're on the short side is such high melodrama that I can only hope you're 13 or 14 or so. If you're a grown-ass woman feeling miserable about her height, then you need to grow up in an entirely different context -- one that surgery cannot help you accomplish.

    Honestly, the way you've written this post sounds pathological to me. People who have alien-limb syndrome and beg a doctor to cut off a leg or an arm sound similarly disturbed. Reputable doctors won't remove healthy limbs, and they won't perform limb-lengthening surgery on otherwise healthy people who just happen to be (gasp!) short. Even if they did, a short woman with artificially stretched limbs won't look like a 5'10" fashion model, anyway. She'd look like Gumby.

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  • dom180
    11 years ago

    Wait, you're a woman? I know plenty of women shorter than you. Honestly, your height is completely normal and I'm sure you don't look odd at all. If you were a man I would be more worried, but really? If you're a woman that is so normal it's unbelievable.

    By the way, I'm confident that nowhere in the world will you be able to get limb-lengthening surgery for free unless your limbs were different lengths or you had some other medical condition. Being short is not a medical condition in and of itself, especially if you're within the normal range (as you are). You would be essentially asking for cosmetic surgery, which is only available for free here in the UK to people who are horribly disfigured, and I'm sure it's a similar case in other places where healthcare is free at the point of purchase or cheap.

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  • shuggy-chan
    11 years ago

    My grandma was 4 10, just think of all the advantages of being short. I'm 6'3 and I hit my head and get snagged by things all the time, and u can be a beast at hide and seek, and if a guy messes with u, ur right and penis level and give them a quick elbow to the groin

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  • telly34
    11 years ago

    You are ok the way you are. You are not letting anyone down. You need to find people who accept you for who you are. I would not do the limb lengthening surgery since it will only make you look unnatural. My little sister is 4'11" and she is absolutely adorable and I love her more than anything in the world. Hope this helps :)

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  • lufa
    11 years ago

    For a girl 5 ft is normal, but it's at the low end. Just wear heels and you'll be ok.

    If you're a guy that's very short. I'm 5'7" and am short for a guy-I would like to be another 4" taller but it's all about genetics.

    I've still managed to date some pretty hot women, a few taller than me. That's what really counts for me at the end of the day-also to be able to defend myself in a fight/confrontation with someone bigger/taller. Though ever since I left high school, never been confronted by anyone and I'm older now.

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  • ChemGirl
    11 years ago

    Plenty of women are depressed about their looks and want some type of cosmetic surgery. That's normal...not healthy, but normal.

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  • Coco-pops
    11 years ago

    Yes...yes it is normal...i mean i have heard of soooo much people that have had it at school n uni etc

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      This surgery is apparently becoming very popular in Asia.

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      • Coco-pops
        11 years ago

        Great

        you would fit in well over there then

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  • Btyou
    11 years ago

    He image conscious America best represented by Demi fucking Lovato and her posse, Bush was wrong, she is the axis of evil and I don't even care, the second amendment authorizes me to kill anyone I want and I start with her. It hurts so much that she is a modern day Hitler and leads everyone on as you march to her pipes you rats.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      What are you talking about?!

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    • lehiff
      11 years ago

      Isn't she like really fat now? And no she isn't a modern day Hitler because Hitler was a germanic a leader who fought against what he believed to be a foe of the planet when demi lovato is a hispanic mediocre singer.

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