Cosmetic Limb Lengthening Surgery

Limb lengthening is a procedure that has been used for some time to correct certain physical birth defects. Common reasons for limb lengthening surgery are dwarfism, congenital short femur, and fibular hemimelia. Limb lengthening surgery has also been used to correct the difference between arms or legs of different lengths and to treat bone fractures and infections.

 

The typical limb lengtheningoperation involves cutting the bone or bones of the limb that is to be lengthened, sometimes in multiple places. Pins are placed into the bone, perpendicular to the long axis. Once the pins have been secured to the bone, they are held in place by a frame outside of the body. The number of pins used depends on a number of factors. The limb lengthening occurs as the bone fragments are pulled farther apart from one another. Screws of the frame can be turned to slowly draw the pieces of bone apart. Over time, new bones grows in the place where the cut bones are separated.

 

 

Limb lengthening in this way can increase the size of bone fragments from 15 to 100 percent of their starting size. The bone is lengthened one millimeter every one to two days. Over the period of eight months a limb can be lengthened by about three inches. The muscles, tendons, blood vessels, and nerves grow right along with the bone.

 

The limb lengthening procedure can be quite grueling. The constant traction and forcible pulling of bone causes an uncomfortable sensation. This feeling is more or less constant but can become acute during the screw turning exercises. The process is so long and involved that patients are generally screened by psychologists and counseled throughout the limb lengthening process.

 

This psychological evaluation and clearance is especially important is the case of cosmetic limb lengthening. Because of the success of and improvements in limb lengthening surgery on patients with injuries and congenital abnormalities, the procedure has been offered to patients that are simply short of stature. Patients, mostly men, are requesting a limb lengthening operation to give them a few extra inches in height. Conceptually the procedure is no different in cosmetic limb lengthening than it is to correct other physical deformities. However, proper patient screening and preparation is considered essential for cosmetic limb lengthening.

 

The steep price of the procedure provides some of the screening simply because it is prohibitive to most. Cosmetic limb lengthening cost can run higher than $100,000 in the United States. When you consider that, unlike liposuction or a tummy tuck, this surgical procedure lasts for the better part of a year the patient must be fully committed to the process.

 

Apparently, many patients are. The difficulty that people of short stature face in their daily lives as well as troubles in their personal and professional lives (whether real or perceived) is debilitating to some. Short stature comes with many physical and psychological challenges. When compared to the physical and psychological challenges of limb lengthening surgery, increasing numbers of people are choosing to trade eight months of aching bones and discomfort for a lifetime of more average height.