$75,000 for growing 3 inches? (1 Viewer)

First time I've heard of this before, this morning on WABC-NY. One can pay $75000 (usually not covered under insurance) to grow about 3 inches in height by having doctors literally break your legs and arms and do some magic to get the bones to regrow after slowly being stretched. The kicker is that you spend 6 months in a wheelchair and the final result is not complete til about a year. They interviewed somebody who was 5'6" and is now 5'9". The guy was older, I'd guess in the low 50s.

Now, I have seen it all, that is insane, to spend $75k to sit in a damm wheelchair for 3" of vanity. Complete hogwash and I am befuddled as any sane human being would care that much to be taller. The program goes on to state that for every inch that you grow, you can make $800 more per year (doing what- changing light bulbs???) so lets say this guy is average and now makes $2400 per year more than before... I wonder if he calculated the $75k that he just layed down to do this????? HELLO???

A person who is so vain as to think, I want to be 3 inches taller is only blinding himself to reality. I am 5'4" and have absolutely no desire to be 5'7", 6'0", 10'+!

Just look at all the stuff I can get at closeouts because it doesn't fit everything else... I can buy small sleeping bags that weight 19ozs, I can find cycling shoes on closeout. Why would I want to be like "average"?

Jay H

Brought to you by the letter "Silica"

I guess if you're shopping in the kiddie section of the stores 3 inches is the difference between humiliation and a big boost in self-confidence... Being a short guy myself, I can't begin to count the number of disadvantages its given me over the years :frowning: I don't think I'd want to break my legs though, maybe someone could get really rich one day with a pill that does the job?

I think silica will just shrink ppl even more

Cheers,
Mike

I used to work at a utility where it was commonly believed that it took height in addition to ability to rise in the ranks. I wasn't there long enough prove the theory over time but while I was, all of the male managers, directors and the like were all ~6' and above. Maybe, I should have stuck around. I am over 6'.

It's really no different from all the other stuff people do--bigger breasts, nose jobs, tummy tucks, botox, etc.

Just think how cool it would be if they could make my arms three inches longer too!

Actually, I've seen this procedure put to good use. A young man who was under 5 feet in height. The procedure was first done on his legs, and then his arms (yup...you CAN do that Eric) so that they'd be proportional to his legs.

The end result was that he was amazingly happy, despite having to go through months of torture, that it was worth it to him. Plus he is able to function better.

(Oh..no "magic" is involved. A series of pins, screws and braces are secured in and around the limb. The limb is "broken", and the pins adjust the width of the break, until it fills with new bone. Then they turn the screws a quarter-turn (daily I think) so that the break widens a bit, and more bone grows. It's a very slow and painful process, so I can't see people using it commonly for vanity purposes. But you never know...)

So, my point is this. Sure, the procedure is no better than breast implants or facial tucks if done to a person within a certain height range. If done for vanity purposes, as you say. But in the case I'm aware of, it was done for FUNCTIONALITY...and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Oh, 3 inches in height ....nevermind

I was just going to say, this isn't anything new, I get 100+ emails a day with similiar claims for much less money, and all in a magic pill!

In The People's Republic of China you have to meet a minimum height requirement to get the cushy government jobs. Supposedly the proceedure is more common to women than men there.

And being shorter than 5'7" certainly doesn't help when riding a motorcycle (Cause 5'7" and 150lbs is the hypothetical person all motorcycles are built for).

More information on this, and other intresting things to do to oneself can be researched at the body-modification ezine (http://www.bmezine.com), the only place online that I spend nearly as much time at as the HTF!

There was a special on Discovery or one of those channels about Dwarfism that showed a teenage girl going through this procedure. It was long and painful, but I think she found the benefits well worth it. Like anything like this, it can be used for vain purposes, but it also has good uses as well (ie: breast implants after a mastectomy).

MikeP

I achieved almost the same results free....

Somehow my pants size went from a 32-28 to a 32-30 within the last six months. Yup, same brand of pants from the same store. No surgery, no nothing. Being in my mid 30s, I didn't expect this growth spurt.

I wouldn't be able to do something like that. I believe the person wanting to grow the extra 3 inches is the one breaking there own legs/arms with a knob attached to their limbs. It has to be painful.

Why not? Hokey research comes out all the time linking taller people to higher salaries and more likely to get married. I wouldn't mind being a few inches taller, I wouldn't break my legs or drop any money though.

OK, maybe if I can do this, I can actually perhaps have a chance to block a shot when playing volleyball. How strong is the bone after the surgury, would it be enough to say go play professional B-ball, assuming of course, one gets the other aspects of being a pro bball together. Might allow somebody with great skills but just a lack of height to play pro bball...

Jay

"Vanity. It's my favorite sin."

If they are only stretching arms and legs, then would the person not end up unproportional in the torso? Also, from my understanding, they only break the upper arm bone and upper thigh bone, so the person's forearms and lower legs would also not be proportional.

Probably just like all those unproportional fake breasts.

I saw a show on TV about this also. They followed several people in China who had this procedure done and all were very happy. As someone mentioned above, you have to meet height requirements for certain jobs. Females have to be 5'3" to work for the government (maybe just certain positions).

Heck, I'm only 5'0" and I have a hard time with my height. I'd love to be taller, though I think I'd want more than 3 inches. 6-7 inches would be better. But seriously, I don't live in China so I still have a lot of opportunity in the US. With my life the way it is, the procedure is too risky and painful for me to want to do. If I were some place where I really was limited by my height I don't know, I may go ahead with it.