Following the story of how 31-year-old Chandler Crews spent around $2 million on limb lengthening surgery, a fascinating simulation shows how this painful and controversial procedure works to help people add to their height.
Crews is more than happy to discuss her story, first undergoing limb lengthening surgery in her teens, eventually adding 13 inches to her height. While it might not be the biggest number in the world, Crews has no regrets about having limb lengthening surgery, stating that "months of twists and turns" were paired with a "little blood, sweat, and tears" to reach her desired height.
Crews was born with achondroplasia, with this genetic condition slowing bone growth in the cartilage of the growth plate. Some say that limb lengthening surgery should be made 'illegal', especially as there's been a rise in people doing it for purely cosmetic reasons. For the likes of Crews, they might undergo the surgery to deal with the side effects of her achondroplasia, like bowed legs.
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Still, as a simulation from the Hospital for Special Surgery reiterates, this isn't one for the faint of heart. Doctor Robert Rozbruch explains how a magnetic motorized intramedullary (IM) nail is used for limb lengthening. The telescopic implant is put into the bone via a fibula osteotomy, involving three drill holes being put into the bone. The IM is inserted down the middle of the bone, while rotational markers ensure that there isn't any rotational deformity. Interlocking screws affix the IM in place, and after a week, the patient will use a remote control to lengthen the tibia at 0.25mm, three times a day. After 33 days, a total lengthening of 25mm is achieved, taking us into the consolidation phase, where there's a mineralization and hardening of the bones.
Once things are healed, the bone can be weight-bearing, although the implant is typically removed after a year.
This is just one method of limb lengthening, with the non-implant version involving an external fitting where patients have to extend screws a certain amount every day. Still, both methods involve new bone growing in the gaps.
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Responding to a similar video on limb lengthening, one person said: "I’m a short guy and I would never consider that surgery."
Another added: "Watching this gives me intense pain.. 👀👀"
A third concluded: "I know about women saying Dany DeVito is sexy so if someone thinks about not being attractive it’s rather not in the height as much as it’s in the mindset and behaviour."
While Crews' surgery was due to the condition she was born with, there are clearly concerns that others might be undertaking the surgery just to add a few more inches onto their Tinder bios.