Hello. I am currently a 25-year-old male and attending university in Seoul. I had an Ilizarov surgery on my calf by Professor Song Hae-ryong in June 2005. My original height was 160.5cm, and now it is 170cm. It has been 5 years since my 3rd surgery was completed. I am writing this to express my gratitude, even if it is just a little, for the many things I have received from the professor. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Professor Song Hae-ryong once again.

 Motivation and Process of Deciding on Surgery

 As already known, Ilizarov surgery is a very difficult decision due to the major surgery, long recovery period, considerable cost, and pain. I felt the same way. Even now, Professor Song Hae-ryong and others are presenting various advanced technological methods, but the decision is still not easy for the patient.

 In this situation, the biggest motivation for me to decide on surgery was 'confidence'. Well, can someone who hasn't been in the situation understand the feeling? Like many others, I was neat in terms of my face and appearance, diligent in academics and other work, and didn't have any major shortcomings. Especially until high school, academics were the most important thing, so the environment around me, including myself, focused only on studying and didn't pay attention to other things. However, after coming to university in Seoul, many things changed. Stepping out of the small framework of high school and meeting and forming relationships with countless new people in a foreign land, I slowly realized that there was not just one standard for living in the world, which was simply studying. In particular, I went to an all-boys middle school and an all-boys high school, so relationships with girls were also unfamiliar.

 Like this, I came to university and realized that appearance plays a very large role in building relationships based on my own confidence outside of academics. Of course, there are many people who don't particularly care about their appearance, including their short height, and live with other confidence. However, the reason I write the motivation in detail is that, for those who care about their appearance, even a small difference in height can be a big change in their lives.

 After that, I started looking for every way to grow taller. There are many methods such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, thigh surgery, oral medication, and hormone injections. However, at the age of 20 at the time, there were not many possible methods. The safest and most effective method was only Ilizarov surgery. So, I studied Ilizarov surgery on my own, reading Professor Song Hae-ryong's two books, Daum Cafe, Internet encyclopedia, etc., and consulted with my parents.

 In fact, I also consulted with orthopedic surgeons (who did not major in Ilizarov) among my parents' close acquaintances about this surgery. However, since this field was very specialized, other doctors could not give me confidence and only gave me abstract and cautious advice. Eventually, although there were several incidents in the process, I asked my parents to meet Professor Song Hae-ryong, who is the most expert and the author of this book, for the last time, so I made a reservation at Korea University Guro Hospital in Seoul and went for a consultation.

 Everything was unfamiliar about Ilizarov surgery that can increase height for ordinary people who do not have leg discomfort or disabilities. Of course, Ilizarov surgery is still unfamiliar except for those who are interested in this surgery. Therefore, there were countless unfounded worries that if you have surgery, you can't walk in a complete shape, you can't kneel properly, you can't do intense exercise, or you can develop other diseases, and I also had vague anxiety. So, my parents always helped me with everything, but they hesitated a lot because of these concerns.

 I still remember the first impression of the day I first met Professor Song Hae-ryong at the university hospital. Professor Song Hae-ryong has a slightly chic side. (Haha) When I first opened the door to the doctor's office, amidst the many doctors and nurses and the busy atmosphere, he explained to me, who wanted to have surgery but was worried about the scale of the surgery and the aftereffects, in a chic and simple manner as if it was nothing. Well.

 Some people say that kind doctors are good, but I thought at that time that the doctor who gives confidence to the patient is the best doctor. (Haha) I heard later, but my parents who were with me said that they were able to get rid of most of the worries they had before after meeting the professor in person. After briefly explaining the process and progress of the surgery, he introduced me to a patient in the next room and told me to ask her any detailed questions I had.

 In the next room, there was a woman about 2 years older than me at the time, and she was about to have her second surgery after her first surgery. In other words, she was in the process of having the Ilizarov installed and lengthening most of the length, and was about to have fixation surgery and tiptoe surgery. The woman was booking a surgery date in the next examination room, and I saw someone with Ilizarov directly installed on their leg for the first time at that time. The woman kindly explained the process of the surgery and the Ilizarov. I had surgery about a month and a half later.

 First Surgery

 I had surgery in the summer of June 2005. The professor usually scheduled surgeries on Mondays and Tuesdays every week, but at that time, most of the appointments were already booked, so I had to wait quite a while. Usually, it is scheduled for 3 months later, but I was lucky and did it a month and a half later in a spot that someone else postponed. It seems that it is usually scheduled for about 3 months later even now. I was admitted to Guro Hospital the day before the surgery. On the day before the surgery, I fasted from lunchtime, and the surgery starts the next morning.

 The next morning came and I went to the operating room on the 2nd floor, and honestly, I talked to the nurses for a while and then fell asleep at some point, and when I woke up, I was back in the patient's room. My parents said that I had surgery for about 5 and a half hours at first, slept in the recovery room for about an hour, and then came out to the patient's room.

 As it is well described in the professor's book and various data books, if I briefly explain the surgery process, Ilizarov surgery involves cutting the bone in the calf area and then fixing the external Ilizarov. And the process of increasing height is to increase 1mm every day through the externally fixed Ilizarov device. After the surgery, I stay in the hospital for about 10 days to check if the Ilizarov surgery has been done properly, check the settlement process, and check through X-Ray photos. After that, I am discharged.

 Usually, I rest at home after surgery. After the surgery, young teenagers don't feel much pain for the first 2-3 days and even run around. But if you do it after entering your 20s like me, it hurts quite a bit for about a week. But after this period, peace comes for quite a long time. Because I grow 1mm every day. I turn the Ilizarov device myself every morning, lunch, and evening by 1/3 of a turn. So, when one turn is made, 1mm is increased and the height increases, and 3cm is increased in a month.

 Increasing the Ilizarov widens the gap between the cut bones, and since it is fixed to the top and bottom of the calf, the calf, which was originally elastic, gradually hardens as it increases by about 5-6cm. The skin's elasticity has reached its limit, and now it is in the stage of adapting to the Ilizarov's forced lengthening.

 From this time on, the peaceful time of growing taller is over, and the fight with oneself begins. Of course, this also becomes familiar after a certain amount of time, but no matter how much you want to increase your height, the professor determines the limits of height increase while checking how well the bone is growing in the bone gap. So, the process after the first surgery is important.

 Ilizarov surgery is not a surgery where Professor Song Hae-ryong does everything. The teacher is responsible for the safety and process of all surgeries, but how much height you can grow well and how quickly you can make the ankle bend normally depends on you. Increasing height is forcibly and automatically increased through the Ilizarov machine, but 'eating' and 'exercising' are important for the bone to fill firmly. So, the professor tells me this importance when I check the progress at Korea University Hospital once a month after being discharged to rest at home, but it was not easy for me because it hurt.

 Eating usually stays only inside the house when resting, so the appetite does not turn easily. So, it's abstract and obvious, but you have to have a good time at home. If you only complain to your parents that the Ilizarov hurts from the surgery and spend your days, you don't move well and lie down, so you often don't feel hungry and your appetite doesn't turn. Therefore, when the height increases, not only the bones but also all kinds of skin, nerves, muscles, and blood vessels grow and lengthen together, so you have to eat various foods well. It didn't seem good to eat only meat, so my mother made various vegetable side dishes every day, and as a special meal, I ate one red ginseng a day. Red ginseng works well for me, but it seems good to eat other black beans, pear juice, beef bone soup, etc., which are high in calcium, or nutritional supplements.

 Exercising is hard. This is really hard. Exercising has two effects. First, because you walk, you stimulate the bone gap, which makes the bone grow hard quickly. Second, since the bone is fixed and lengthened on both sides, the calf muscles on the back of the calf bone continue to shorten relatively. If you walk every day, the calf muscles will naturally lengthen according to the length of the bone.

 Therefore, when walking, it is more effective to always walk firmly until the back muscles are pulled, rather than just walking the same as usual because you walk well at first. I repeat, exercising is very important but it hurts. It hurts to force your legs to lengthen and your flesh to lengthen, but it hurts a little more if you walk. Therefore, how well you exercise determines how quickly the bone grows and how short the surgery period is, and whether you can avoid tiptoe surgery that you will have in the second surgery altogether.

 So, I set the time 5 times a day. 9am, 11am before eating, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm. I walked 30 minutes 5 times a day like this. It's easy at first, but it gets more painful and difficult as you go. But as the professor always said, the Ilizarov is very firmly fixed, so it is very safe. If you don't run and walk hard, the bones will grow much harder and faster and recover faster.

 In addition, it is important to 'have fun'. It may sound abstract at first glance, but the time I rested at home outside of the hospital stay after the surgery was about 8 months. Therefore, since I spend time at home during this period, it is important to have a regular life to have fun at home for a long time.

 I sit in a wheelchair for a long time, and in addition to exercising at a set time every day, it is also important to go to bed early at a set time around 11pm, get up at a set time around 7am, and eat proper nutritious meals for lunch and dinner. It seems that it is not good to only watch TV, the internet, or the computer all day while sitting. Since habits are important for long-term life, spending only these inactive entertainment hours is not good for bone growth, but also for mental health.

 Therefore, it is good to have plenty of conversations with parents or close relatives for a certain amount of time every day. And sometimes I secretly went out near my house to get some fresh air late at night. Then, if I met people around me, I would say that I injured my leg while exercising, and then I would cover my leg with a blanket and go to the park or nearby trails in a wheelchair. If I go out like this two or three times a week, I don't feel particularly stuffy staying only at home. And I read a book for about an hour every day. Of course, in addition to this, creating your own leisure life will be of great help in the long recovery period.

 During the surgery period and once a month, I go up to Korea University Guro Hospital to see the professor, and I usually move by car. I also moved in our car, but it is not easy to get into position because I am wearing the Ilizarov device on my foot. Here's a tip, I sit in the right rear seat and wear a seat belt. And if you lower the right front seat completely to the back, it will be lowered to the front of the rear seat, but you can remove the head of the front seat and sit with your legs up very comfortably.

 If you are from the provinces like me, it is burdensome to ride in the car for a long time, and it hurts because the blood pools in your legs when you lower it, or you get motion sickness easily. But if you do this, your legs are raised appropriately and the view is good, so it is not uncomfortable to ride in the car for a long time. Of course, in this case, it is essential to wear a seat belt well like me.

 Second Surgery

 I also decided to increase 8cm at first. But people get greedy as they increase. However, the professor always prioritizes safety, so he doesn't allow me to increase too much. Therefore, it seems that the professor only allows me to increase a little more when he judges that it is safe only when the bone grows quickly according to the speed of lengthening.

 In order to check the progress with the professor at Korea University Guro Hospital once a month, I go up there, and when I take an X-Ray, I can clearly see the length of my increased height and the shape of the bone growing. The gap between the bones in the X-Ray is my increased height. And what looks like white thread in between is my growing bone. So, I tried to eat more, have a good time, and exercise as much as possible while watching my height and bone growth with my own eyes.

Sometimes I go to a big hospital near my house and take an X-Ray, make it into a CD, and send it directly to the professor at Guro Hospital by 택배. Then you can open your own bone picture at home and see it. I still have these pictures, and I think I often looked at them whenever I was in pain and enjoyed it and motivated myself. Of course, I can also find joy in this because my eye level is already rising every day when I walk around.

 After the first surgery in June 2005, I had the second surgery around November. This is the process of stopping the lengthening, firmly fixing the Ilizarov device, and performing tiptoe surgery to lengthen the back calf muscles. Most people still wear the Ilizarov device even after the second surgery. But at the time, exceptionally, Professor Song Hae-ryong fixed the pins only on the top and bottom inside my leg and removed the Ilizarov device.

 The professor said that my bone had grown quite a lot while lengthening it, so it would be okay to remove the Ilizarov device, and it would be more convenient and better for exercising and living in the future. I really appreciate the professor, and I was more careful not to put any shock on my leg and exercised harder as the professor had guided me.

   So, I had the first surgery in June 2005 and lengthened my height by about 10cm while wearing the Ilizarov device, and then had the second surgery in October 2005 to fix the pins and enter the period of filling the bones. At this time, the tiptoe surgery is quite painful. Because tiptoe surgery, as mentioned before, is to lengthen the muscles behind the calf, and this method is to make scratches little by little on several parts from the outside of the muscle part above the Achilles tendon. Therefore, if the injured muscle is forcibly grabbed and stretched, it becomes much easier to stretch than before. As the wound heals while stretching, the calf muscles become the calf muscles that match the length of the lengthened bone.

 At this time, the calf muscles need new exercise. If the calf muscles are not forcibly lengthened and do not lengthen according to the bone, there may be an unfortunate event where you have to have tiptoe surgery again, so the professor reminds me that it will hurt now, but you can only lengthen it before all the wounds are healed, so be sure to exercise properly.

 To lengthen these calf muscles, I did the 'pushing legs against the wall' exercise while sitting in a wheelchair. Of course, walking is the best and most ideal, but it is not easy to walk for a long time because it hurts both from the second surgery and from the tiptoe surgery. So, the first step is to bring it to the wall at a right angle while sitting in a wheelchair. You will be surprised when your feet touch like this at first. Because I also exercised hard after the first surgery, but if the lengthening length exceeds 8cm, it is difficult to lengthen the back muscles, so in fact, the feet are almost fixed in a tiptoe state. Therefore, if the foot normally touches the plane at a right angle, you will feel the effect of the tiptoe surgery yourself. From this time on, the next step is to lower the height of the foot against the wall every day while sitting in a wheelchair. Then, naturally, if the height of the wall touching the foot is lowered, the degree to which the ankle is bent will increase. In this way, the back muscles that can be lengthened by tiptoe surgery are lengthened. I divided it into 1 hour a day, rested for a while, and continued to push my legs against the wall most of the day. That way, the back muscles of the legs will lengthen. And you have to maintain that state continuously to fix that state. I kept drawing small lines on the wall with a pen. That way, I can know how far I lowered my foot to touch my ankle the day before. If you do this, the wheelchair has a function to fix the wheels, so you can continuously stretch your feet with appropriate intensity by pushing yourself against the wall rather than standing up.

 If you push your feet like this within a certain period of time, your ankle will be bent enough to walk and you will be able to walk after about 10 days when your feet are lengthened. Now is the stage of walking hard. This stage is the happiest of all the stages so far. Because you can walk a lot in a state where the legs are lengthened and the height is increased, and the pain is much less than before.

 My eye level has risen this high. You can see that 8 months of pain has returned to yourself as happiness. Professor Song Hae-ryong took out the Ilizarov device, so I could walk well in the park, pushing a walking aid even during the day. Of course, it is not good to walk a lot at once, so I walked to and from a distance that would take about 30 minutes to walk.

 Returning to School After Surgery

 After the winter of 2005 passed, I returned to school in March 2006. Even at this time, the bones were not completely filled when I checked with X-Ray, so the professor told me to walk with crutches, so I walked with crutches, but when I went to the professor after about a month, the professor told me that I could just walk now.

 I went to school carefully for about a year like that. And in December 2006, I had surgery for the last time to remove the fixing device and fixing pins inside my leg. At this time, the surgery time was short and I think I was only hospitalized for about 3-4 days. And after resting at home for about a week, all the processes were over. At this time, I felt pain in my leg for the first time in almost a year, so I suddenly thought about the past 8 months all at once. After that, I walked with crutches for about 2 weeks.

 I was able to return to a happy school life after completing all the treatments. To the extent that I would forget that I had this surgery myself as time passed, I did not have any small aftereffects other than being tall. I think that this is because the professor meticulously performed the surgery from the time I decided and started the surgery until the time I removed the fixing pins, and I am always grateful.

 I joined the tennis club and I am still doing well. I often play basketball on weekends after school. There is no discomfort when sitting, no pain in my legs, and kneeling is the same as in the past.

 Concluding the Short Review

 I will be graduating from university soon. As a result of much deliberation with my parents about my great desire to really grow taller not long after entering university, I was able to meet Professor Song Hae-ryong by chance, and I am truly grateful that such a big change was possible in my life because of that. Occasionally, I sometimes think anew that I now forget that there were times in the past when I worried and struggled about being short.

 I would like to express my sincere gratitude once again to Professor Song Hae-ryong, who safely performed all of these processes from beginning to end. I will be more diligent and work hard at my school and studies in the future and visit you for sure. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents, who are always dedicated to me by my side. I hope that more people who are worried and struggling can receive help through the professor.