The lengthening surgery is usually used for people who, due to accident or disease, have limbs, usually legs, of uneven length, and it’s time-consuming and very painful. Now, I’m seeing online chatter about limb-shortening surgery, apparently done mostly on tall men who are undergoing M-to-F gender reassignment.
Has anyone else heard of this, or knows of a doctor who will do it? I just can’t imagine the logistics of shortening a bone in the midst of all the muscles, tendons, blood vessels, nerves, etc. in that limb.
Looking at a couple of web sites, it looks like they can only take off a couple of inches. That’s small enough that all of the connections can readjust. (You don’t want slack in your muscles or anything).
Shortening is a solid vegetable oil, an alternative to solid animal fats like lard.
I took your comment to be a joking reference to the food product and was inspired to respond in kind, but also pointing back to the original topic (“limb shortening”).
You are 100% correct on all counts; I was channeling Homer Simpson (who ate a ten pound bag of flour once) when it occurred to me that “limb lard” might be a slang term the “youngsters” use. Further investigation revealed this to be incorrect — I thought I saw a term meaning “a fat person waddling past a bakery,” but couldn’t find it again and it makes no sense anyway. I’m dropping the matter but remaining vigilant.