ilizarov

Remember the British girl who wanted to be taller so that she can fulfill her dream of becoming an air stewardess? For anyone who wants to add some height after all your bones have fused i.e. stopped growing, other than wearing really high heels, the only other way is to saw your bones, keep the ends apart with a fixator, lengthen the gap by 1mm everyday, endure lots and lots of pain, spend tones of money, and wait for your bone to lengthen in 9 to 12 months.

According to my tutor (I'm currently doing orthopedics), he said that growth hormones won't make you taller once your bones have fused. It only makes your nose bigger, forehead protrusion, gives you pituitary tumour, diabetes and all sorts of other things. The only way to grow taller is using the ilizarov technique of bone lengthening.

A little bit of trivia. The method of such lengthening was discovered by Dr. Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov in 1951. Not everybody who goes for such operations is for cosmesis sake. People who have non-union fractures, bones deformed by polio can go for ilizarov. Also people who are born with shorter stature like achondroplasia and Turner's, can lengthen their bones too.

And short people like me. My tutor actually told me (three times!) during his clinic that i should consider going for the operation. Yes, i know i'm not exactly the tallest person, but don't need to remind me right? I don't want to suffer the pain of the operation, that's why i'm investing my money in pretty heels and torturing my feet. I think that's why I have plantar fasciitis.