Am I crazy for wanting cosmetic surgery?

A

astronet7

Confused about dryer sheets
Joined
Nov 15, 2021
Messages
8
So all my life I've always wanted just one thing and now that I'm about to retire comfortably, I'm starting to think that I should just get it over with....so I can actually enjoy life at a taller height. I heard about this procedure https://leglengtheningsurgery.com/ from an old friend of mine who had one leg shorter than the other...but I guess you can do it to get taller too.

I'm going to be 50 soon, but I think I still have 20-30 good years ahead of me and quite frankly, I'm tired of looking up to others and see this similar to a face lift or something. My spouse is fully supportive, it'd only take about a year for 2 inches, and less than 100K or so. I'm fully aware of the risks and it's always bothered me

What do you all think? Am I crazy or should I do what I think might increase my happiness by 30-40%?
 
I’d look at this through the lens of mental health. If you are depressed because of your height, then maybe consider it.

For what it’s worth though… 99% of this is probably in your own head: I’ve never once thought anything negative towards a person’s height — nobody cares, people have too much other stuff happening in their lives to waste a moments thought on something like this.

And once you “fix” this, will you just find something new you don’t find acceptable? Where does it end?
 
30-40% sounds like a huge jump in happiness. Hedonic Adaption is real and I'd question myself if I was building this up too much. That's a huge expectation going in! Not advice but I'd question the impact to your happiness. The few people I know that have had cosmetic procedures quickly find something else that they need to fix that is robbing them of being happy (granted, they tend to be more superficial than height which can impact daily life).



I don't look down on anyone because of their height (but then I'm not super tall at the old male average of 5'8" -I think it's crept up a bit) and doubt anyone looks "down" on you in the negative sense. The only realm I think it might matter is in dating. For me, being on the market, there are a lot of women out there looking for taller men -even if they are shorter than I am. Every once in a while a taller friend will josh me about my height and I just point out that I rarely bump my head and I fit comfortably in sports cars!
 
I don't have any problem whatsoever with doing things to improve one's appearance. We can all tell you that height doesn't matter (and obviously yours didn't keep you from finding a mate), but from your standpoint, it does, and that's all that matters.

Since you are aware of the risks, the big thing is to find the right surgeon and facility, get all your care-and-rehab ducks in a row, and best of luck to you!
 
Some friend! :rolleyes: Then again, women have something similar. Certain women with big boobs like to josh smaller-busted ones. I had a good retort for that one, but it was a bit more personal than yours :LOL:

FLSUnFIRE said:
Every once in a while a taller friend will josh me about my height and I just point out that I rarely bump my head and I fit comfortably in sports cars!
Click to expand...
 
I'm 5"6' and never considered myself short. There was a day at work when my boss, the same height, was discussing one thing or another and he said "us short guys". I retorted, "Huh, I never thought of myself as short."

My question would be, would this two inches really change your happiness?
When I was in second grade, 59 years ago, we had one student that went through leg lengthening. The school put in a speaker system and I guess a phone line to his house so he could hear what went on in class, while he was home going through the process. I'm guessing there have been some changes in the process, but still basically the same.
 
I would be terrified that the procedure goes wrong and I'm left crippled in some way.
 
Since you asked - yes, you’re crazy.

Agree with the earlier post to consider spending time, effort and money in the area of mental health, specifically spirituality.
 
Crazy no. If you want it and have thought through any possible negative outcomes it's a BTD. Now if you go through with it and find yourself no more happy?

BTW I'm a 5'9" male who doesn't think he cares about height.
 
Have you considered just moving to someplace where everyone is already your height.
 
Just curious, if you wear shoes that give you two more inches in height, do you really notice a difference? I can’t imagine that 2 inches would change your prospective enough to be worth the risk/cost/discomfort of surgery . . .

Personally, I view any surgery as something that is serious and a last resort so I would not do it. Also, in retirement, your life will be different. Maybe wait a couple years and see if it still matters.
 
I don't think you're crazy, but I do think the procedure in your case is more than cosmetic. It's not a facelift, or, more simply, a little botox or filler or something.

It definitely sounds like a big expensive deal and requires a lot of research to find the right doctor. It's probably also something you'll want to be in your top physical shape before you start, and be prepared to have significant months of rehab and pain.
 
astronet7 said:
I'm going to be 50 soon
Click to expand...

From the link you quoted:
some plastic surgeons might recommend that height surgery be performed before the age of 50 as bone strength and quality may start decreasing after that age
Click to expand...

So you might be considered borderline for this procedure.

My feeling is that as you get older, your appearance will start to matter less, and you might not get as much satisfaction out of a couple of inches of leg length as you would right now. So that could be another factor.
 
As a nurse, I do everything possible to stay out of the hospital or needing surgical intervention. As a 5 ft female, height doesn't bother me.

However, if this procedure really will increase your life happiness 30-40%, you have the money, and soon with retirement, the time to recover, go for it.
I definitely think some mental health check ins would help to make sure your desires/understanding of the outcome is true.
Best of luck to you. Let us know the outcome of your decision.
 
I don't think you're crazy but I think it's an absolutely terrible idea. To me it's stunning a surgeon could legally offer this to a 50 yo. Just my opinion.
 
My dad had plastic surgery on his eyes. My mom was a nurse and picked his surgeon. He spent his life after surgery constantly rubbing his eyes due to dry eyes.

Female nurse here, plastic surgery is a no way in my book. Not worth the pain and suffering and risks.

But it’s your life and your money so it’s your choice.
 
I'm a 5' 7.5" woman, who twice lost her heart to 5' 9" men. They were both so well proportioned, that all I saw was Male. :cool:

Bodily proportion - torso to legs and arms - is much more important than height.

MRG said:
BTW I'm a 5'9" male who doesn't think he cares about height.
Click to expand...
 
That's actually a great question. I actually do notice a difference when I wear any shoe that increases my height, including athletic shoes, which can add up to 1.5 inches (making me 5' 9"). This puts me at eye level with most men, which could possibly be important to a man (I haven't asked any).

I've purposefully avoided commenting on the surgery itself, because OP says he's well aware of the risks.

Jerry1 said:
Just curious, if you wear shoes that give you two more inches in height, do you really notice a difference? I can’t imagine that 2 inches would change your prospective enough to be worth the risk/cost/discomfort of surgery . . .

Personally, I view any surgery as something that is serious and a last resort so I would not do it. Also, in retirement, your life will be different. Maybe wait a couple years and see if it still matters.
Click to expand...
 
Going to throw this out here as food for thought.



Perhaps you have heard of the book written over 50yr ago (it's still in print) called Psycho-Cybernetics. One of the first so-called "self-help" books, it was actually written by a plastic surgeon in response to his observations of his patients after surgery.


"In a previous book, written some 20 years ago (New
Faces—New Futures) I published a more or less collec-
tion of case histories where plastic surgery, and particu-
larly facial plastic surgery, had opened the door to a new
life for many people. That book told of the amazing
changes that often occur quite suddenly and dramatically
in a person's personality when you change his face. I was
elated at my successes in this respect. But, like Sir Hum-
phry Davy, I learned more from my failures than from
my successes.
Some patients showed no change in personality after
surgery. In most cases a person who had a conspicuously
ugly face, or some "freakish" feature corrected by sur-
gery, experienced an almost immediate (usually within 21
days) rise in self-esteem, self-confidence. But in some
cases, the patient continued to feel inadequate and experi-
enced feelings of inferiority. In short, these "failures" con-
tinued to feel, act and behave just as if they still had an
 ugly face."
This indicated to me that reconstruction of the physical
image itself was not "the" real key to changes in person-
ality. There was something else which was usually influ-
enced by facial surgery, but sometimes not. When this
"something else" was reconstructed, the person himself
changed. When this "something else" was not recon-
structed the person himself remained the same, although
his physical features might be radically different."
 
Last edited:
I'm 5'4.5". Our older son is shorter than me, I think he's 5'3". He had some medical issues as a child and was on a couple of medications. He was always on the short side and I'd ask his doctors if any of his medications were slowing his growth. No, it wasn't medications, look back in your family history and you'll find some short relatives. Yes, on both sides he has male relatives who were on the short side.

This does not bother him. He doesn't compare himself to other people.

I had heard of the procedure you are talking about for correcting uneven leg length and also for increasing height in people with things like dwarfism. Maybe that's not the right term for the condition. I thought it was only able to be done during growth years, I didn't know it could be done on adults.

It sounds like you are considering this because you want the extra height for yourself. Sometimes people do procedures because they want other people to see them differently. That would be putting more importance on what other people value rather than what you value.

Good luck with your decision. It's your body, your money and your risk.
 
Not sure what the "tell" would be on leg lengthening, though. Scars, maybe?

ShokWaveRider said:
All the folks we know that have had some kind of cosmetic surgery, Botox or Collogen procedures look as if they have.
Click to expand...
 
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