I am trying to find out about the possibility of height reduction surgery of some kind.
Most internet searches come up dry, but I have found occasional brief references to tibial or femur reduction followed by rehabilitation. Does anyone on these boards know whether such operations actually exist? If they do, where can I read or learn more about them?
Who on earth would want to reduce their height?
out of curiosity, how does being tall make your life difficult? Are you male or female? How tall are you? Is there a medical reason you are tall (pituitary tumor)? Are you still growing?
I am little taller than average (6’0") but I wish I was a little bit shorter. Not nearly enough to consider surgery. I have a difficult time in airplanes, back seats of cars, and other locations that might be cramped (confined spaces at work).
Its funny, when I was little, my mother and older sister told me eat healthy and I would grow up to be 6 ft tall. Which was thought to be a pipe dream considering Mom was 5’3" and Dad was 5’6" and Sis was 5’4". And no one in the extneded family was very tall
Again I wouldn’t mind be about 4 inches shorter but not nearly enough to consider surgery, but I can imagine why some taller people would, if it was a convenient option.
I’ve seen documentaries about Japanese (Chinese maybe) businessmen having surgery to make them taller. It involved sawing through their shins and then installing external braces that would be very very slowly lengthened over a period of a few months.
If something like that can be done, I’d guess the opposite could also be done. The complication I’d see is that all the non-bone structure (muscle, fat, nerves) would have to be dealt with somehow. I don’t know if they can be cut and reattached or if they’ll just shrink on their own.
I have a good friend who is extremely tall, and from what I can tell it is a pain in the butt.
Being permanently uncomfortable on most forms of transportation is bad enough. But then you have to figure most beds are too short for you. Clothes and shoes are hard to find and often need to be special ordered. You are constantly bonking your head on things. The whole world is just out of scale for you, and everything is just a smidge more difficult than it otherwise would be.
Another factor is that you do get a lot of attention, and it can make you very self-conscious. It can make dating difficult (there comes a point when tall is just too tall) and can make people treat you differently in a way that is not always good.
I don’t think it’s enough to do a painful surgery, but it’s certainly not all fun.
Dear mxzimm,
Please don’t even consider this, not even hypothetically, the dangers of this type of long term invasive surgery couples with the pain and the steel leg braces you will be wearing for months far out-weighs any potential emotion you may feel as a social outsider.
I’m a little taller than most, I’m male and 6’ 4’’ and apart from very few long distance airplane and coach trips it’s a hell of an advantage. Also bear in mind that as the general population is increasing in height so your stature will become the norm.
The only really unpleasant thing is drunks in Bars tend to pick occasional fights with the
taller blokes, must think they’ve got something to prove!
Peter in the stratosphere where the airs cleaner
Even Sven hit the nail on the head when it comes to pointing out the aggravations of excessive height. I suspect that it’s difficult to appreciate for somebody who’s even a few inches shorter. When I was 6’2" or so back in HS it was not nearly as inconvenient as it is now.
I’m 6’5"-6’6", depending on the time of day, and male. I’m not growing anymore.
That’s a good point about the soft tissue around a bone: I’m not sure if it could be tightened up or not. I know that there is something called prolotherapy which can be used to remove laxity in a ligament, and perhaps the soft tissue could be cut out and reattached.
Pdunderhill-what advantages have you noticed? Apart from the fact that I can reach stuff off the top shelf, I’ve not really noticed any advantages. It would be nice to hear some that I haven’t thought of.
mxzimm, move to the Netherlands. Your heigth would be totally ordinary here. My husband is 6 ft 5 inches and three of his fifteen co-workers are taller then he is.
Beds, doorways and transport here in the Netherlands are sized accordingly.
edit: confused the heights of two posters
I’d be very reluctant to allow anyone to cut good bone and create a permanent weak spot.
Assuming this exists, the only place to reduce height is in the legs.
Do you really want to take out 6-8 inches from your legs only?
Your legs would be out of proportion to your body and the legs themselves.
I don’t know if you would even be able to walk after that. Trying to shorten and re-attach muscle, tendons, ligaments and nerves would make it very difficult if not impossible to regain full function.
I think the “cure” would cause far more problems than it would solve.
That can’t be worth the trouble. I’m 6’0", but wider than normal, and hate movie theaters, airplanes, and other things with narrow seats. But I would never consider surgery to reduce the size of my shoulders and rib cage.
Even if such surgery were done, you would run into the problem of some who have acromegaly. Their bones tend to curve, leaving longer than needed muscles, which makes them very weak. Whatever the annoyance of that extra height, it can’t be worth surgery.
As for advantages, tall women look for taller men. Height gives you an advantage among all people, who will figuratively and literally look up to you. Height in itself is considered a quality of leadership and has no negative connotations I can think of.
If you are unhappy for some reason I doubt your height is the specific reason. If you don’t like being different, don’t assume being shorter will resolve that.
Anyway, are you athletic? Find a wrestling school. You could be star.
My husband’s family is Dutch.
I’m pretty tall myself for a girl (5’8"), but his whole family (three girls, my husband, and his parents) make me look like a shrimp! The women are all over 6’ tall, and he and his father are both at 6’6" - sure, air travel is inconvenient, but most times the attendants are kind and will let them have an exit-row seat.
Tall people are more likely to be paid better, nominated to be CEOs, to hold elected office, and are rated as more trustworthy and attractive in surveys.
Interesting cite here: It pays to be tall.
It’s a good thing to be tall! It shows a lot of things about you on a nearly unconscious level; you’re healthy and have good genes, and you take care of yourself.
If you’re really freakishly tall (as in over 8 ft) and it’s causing you actual physical trauma or distress, that’s one thing, but I have a hard time thinking of being slightly taller as a disadvantage.
(Oh, and my husband and his father build the family beds from scratch, and apparently did so even in Holland - it’s a tradition with them to build beds for incoming family members. Between that and California King mattresses, it isn’t too bad for them.)
mxzimm, my father is 6’6" and a half and although there were some places he had to watch his head (especially in the 19th century church we attended), and airplanes are a drag, he is happy with his height. People who are not tall almost always say they wish they were taller! You should be proud of your height!! 
I’ve got a good female friend who is 6’ 5" and she could not possible imagine life any other way (being shorter).
Her friend, from her volleyball days, is 6’ 3" tall and wore heals one time to a function we were all at, and my friend was (almost) livid that she got “out heighted”.
I guess I see it as taking what you think is a problem and putting your brain around it a different way. It shows a certain maturity and overall capacity to be happy.
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That’s great if you happen to love volleyball.
My buddy is 6"8’, and his passion is travelling. He lived abroad for years. I assure you, it is a quality of life issue for him…you should have seen him trying to squeeze into the tiny sleeper-bus beds in China! Because so many forms of transport are uncomfortable for him, he was a lot more limited as to where he could reasonably live and go. A nice weekend jaunt for you and me would mean hours of pain and discomfort for him. Mostly he’d have to live someplace central and not pay too many visits to people in other towns.
You can build your own bed at home, but that doesn’t work on the road. If the bed at a hotel happened to have a footboard, he’d be in for a poor night’s sleep. When he moves to a new country, he pretty much has to take his entire wardrobe for the duration.
Not to mention that people in many countries are not as polite about difference as we may be in our own. In China, women on the street would often say “I’m scared” and cower behind their boyfriends when he walked by as if he was some kind of monster. Everywhere he went was a contant chorus of “He’s so tall.” It’s obnoxious to stand out so much when you are travelling. Sometimes you want to be able to blend in. And while women may like tall men, realistically it’s awkward to slow dance with someone whose boobs are crotch-height with you. He feels most comfortable around women about 5"8’, which severely limits the dating pool.
I don’t think he’d change things, but it doesn’t make him immature or unhappy that his height is sometimes a liability.
even sven,
The issue of finding the capacity to be happy and having a certain maturity does NOT imply that someone cannot get frustrated that their height is sometimes a liability.
The OP appears to be so unhappy with their height that they are thinking of chopping bones in half and having pieces taken out to reduce their height.
You DON’T think your friend would change things even though he gets frustrated. I don’t think my friend would change things, and there are times when she gets frustrated (although I didn’t provide an example). We pretty much all get frustrated from time to time over various physical attributes.
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Wow. I’ve never even thought about this (tho’ I have heard of the height-inducing surgery). I wouldn’t have thought that people would want their height reduced. Almost sounds like a fetish.
Anyway, SpouseO is 6’6" (2 m). Sometimes he complains about things - airlines, beds, that sort of thing - and he does get tired of people pointing his height out to him (he knows he’s tall), but I really doubt he’d change it.
Asked husband directly about the height, and the thing he dislikes most is low door lintels and those stairwells that cut out before the bottom step. He whams his head on those pretty frequently, and it’s irritating for him.
Husband says it’s nice to have more leverage (when working on things physically).
It’s nice to be able to pick people easily out of a crowd or be found yourself because you’re literally seeing over the crowd (or being a head above everyone).
He thinks that he is found more attractive because of his height (he thinks he’s ordinary looking otherwise).
People get out of your way if you need to move fast in crowded places (“Everybody MOVE!!” 
)
He thinks it’s easier to hide extra pounds when you have about a foot extra to spread it out over. :rolleyes: