[Cover Story K] Height Lengthening Surgery: The "6cm Trap"

 

Multiple thick steel pins are hammered into the leg bone.

Then, the perfectly healthy tibia is cut.

Again, thick steel pins are hammered into the cut tibia and connected to an external fixator.

Now, you have to wear this fixator for at least three months and wait to grow taller.

<Recording> K Orthopedic Coordinator: "Even at the same 160cm, if the calves look longer, it has the effect of making you look taller."

However, there are patients who still cannot walk a year after surgery.

<Recording> Mr. Jang (Height Lengthening Surgery Patient): "I wouldn't have had this surgery even if there was only a 1% chance that I wouldn't be able to walk."

<Recording> Height Lengthening Surgery Patient (Housewife): "The doctor should definitely talk about the aftereffects of this surgery first."

Recently, more and more young people are undergoing this risky surgery.

So-called 'height lengthening surgery'.

Hundreds of young people choose this surgery every year, enduring the pain of cutting their bones.

The surgery fee alone is tens of millions of won.

If it goes well, you can grow up to 6 centimeters taller and regain lost confidence.

The problem is... that this surgery is extremely dangerous.

This is a hospital in Seoul known for limb lengthening surgery, also known as 'height lengthening surgery'.

<Recording> Mr. Jeong ('Height Lengthening Surgery' Patient/Voice Altered): "The doctor should definitely talk about the aftereffects of this surgery first."

<Recording> Patient's Guardian: "This place is good at height lengthening surgery and leg surgery for kids. They see it on the internet and come here for leg surgery. From the provinces..."

In the ward, young people who have just finished surgery a few days ago are carefully practicing walking.

<Recording> "I definitely walked straight a little while ago."

They all have an external fixator called 'Ilizarov' on their legs.

Limb lengthening surgery, also known as height lengthening surgery, first cuts the tibia or femur and then fixes it by hammering thick steel pins into the bone.

An external fixator is attached to the outside of the leg and connected to the leg bone.

Starting a week after the surgery, the external fixator is gradually increased to lengthen the bone.

The reporting team received surgical consultation at this hospital.

<Recording> K Orthopedic Coordinator: "Seo In-young (singer) may be short, but her (leg) proportions are pretty, so she looks pretty. There is an absolute height, but proportions are actually important. (The height that increases) is only 5-6cm, but when others feel it, they feel it's more than 10cm."

<Recording> "What is certain is that everyone is satisfied. No one says they regret it."

The surgery costs more than 20 million won.

<Recording> "18.5 million won (up to the 2nd and 3rd removal surgeries) 24.5 million won. This is only the surgery cost..."

I asked if there would be any side effects from the surgery.

<Recording> "(The) pins (implanted in the bone) break, clubfoot develops, nerves are damaged, bone callus does not form... (side effects) you can consider this everything."

Housewife, Ms. Jeong.

Ms. Jeong, who was less than 150cm tall, underwent height lengthening surgery at an orthopedic clinic in Seoul in April last year.

<Recording> Ms. Jeong: "I went to the hospital because of bowlegs. Bowlegs don't look pretty when you wear heels. So, I went to wear heels, but they recommended I have height surgery together if possible."

So, she had height lengthening surgery... but even though it has been a year and a half since the surgery, she still cannot walk without crutches.

<Recording> "The bone doesn't grow well, but when you go there (hospital), they never say that. The hospital never says your bone doesn't grow well, they just keep telling you to exercise."

Ms. Jeong's X-ray.

The cut tibia still has a gap.

Because the bone did not grow, she had to rely on steel pins to walk, and then in February, the steel pin implanted in her leg suddenly broke.

<Recording> "They (the hospital) said that they tested all the steel (steel pins) and that it wouldn't break even if they hit it with a hammer, so I could rest assured..."

Eventually, she re-implanted the steel pin and re-attached the external fixator.

Ms. Jeong later found out that two large screws were implanted in her ankle during this process.

<Recording> "I really did my best for this patient. And I plan to continue to do my best."

<Recording> "When I asked what the nails were on my ankle, they told me. When I had surgery, my ankle bone was broken and my ankle was actually broken. He said he put in the screws and honestly had a hard time."

<Recording> "(At another hospital) they said that this state is dead bone callus. (The bone) has no chance of growing. Even if I have reconstructive surgery, I will become disabled in the future. I can't use my ankle. I'll have to limp."

In response, the hospital said that Ms. Jeong wanted the surgery, not that they recommended it, and that they had notified her in advance that the steel pin could break.

<Recording> Y Orthopedic Clinic Director: "Every time you come, I tell you the percentage of how much bone has grown. I said everything I had to say to the patient."

<Recording> "I really did my best for this patient. And I plan to continue to do my best."

Mr. Kim, who used to be a health club trainer.

Mr. Kim, who was 174cm tall, wanted to become a trainer with better conditions, so he underwent the so-called 'height lengthening surgery' three years ago.

<Recording> Mr. Kim "(How many centimeters did you grow?) 8cm. I didn't do it for cosmetic reasons, and I didn't have a complex. When I said I would do it for exercise, they said there would be no problem even if I grew 5-6cm."

This 8 centimeters that is said to have grown is not the height that has grown because the bone has grown.

In Mr. Kim's case, the bone did not grow well even after 2 years of surgery, and as a result, inflammation and necrosis occurred in the hip joint and muscles because he relied on steel pins for both legs.

<Recording> "The bone is sticking out here. On this side (That's right. It's sticking out.) The bone is very outside..."

<Recording> "The thigh muscles are completely gone. This side (left foot) feels hard when I walk, and this side (right foot) feels like I'm walking on a sofa. This side just collapses."

Mr. Kim, who has even had reconstructive surgery, is now pinning his last hopes on a third surgery.

<Recording> "I definitely can't go back to normal. They say that my athletic ability will almost be recovered. But I know what kind of surgery it is after watching it for 4 years..."

Originally, height lengthening surgery was developed for patients with dwarfism who are excessively short or for patients with limbs that have been shortened due to deformities or accidents.

<Recording> Song Hae-ryong (Professor, Korea University Guro Hospital, Orthopedics): "The ankle is bent like this, so we correct this. Because the foot doesn't touch the ground. Ilizarov (professor) developed this technology to treat this."

At this university hospital, many patients are coming these days complaining of side effects after receiving the so-called 'height lengthening surgery' at private orthopedic clinics.

A man in his 20s whose bones did not grow after surgery.

A housewife in her 30s whose left leg is 2cm longer.

There is also a woman in her 20s whose toes are paralyzed due to muscle necrosis.

<Recording> "You can think of it as jaw surgery for the legs."

Limb lengthening surgery, also known as height lengthening surgery, inevitably has side effects, according to specialists.

<Interview> "It takes 6 months to grow 6-7cm, but there are cases where bones don't grow for 6 months. This is the most worrying complication. The second is osteomyelitis. Inflammation occurs inside the bone and can destroy all the newly formed bone."

The increasing number of these dangerous, so-called height lengthening surgeries is analyzed to be partly due to the misguided atmosphere in our society where people with short stature are easily disadvantaged.

Mr. Jang, 39, who had the so-called height lengthening surgery in September last year.

He still has difficulty walking without crutches.

He also quit his business of 10 years.

He has had reconstructive surgery twice because of the difficulty in getting around.

The bone is still not growing well.

He visited another hospital with a glimmer of hope.

<Interview> Jeong Cheol-hee (Orthopedic Specialist): "If it is expected that there will be no further bone formation, autologous bone graft surgery may be necessary, in which bone is harvested from your pelvis and transplanted."

Nevertheless, Mr. Jang does not regret having the surgery.

Because he looks 6cm taller on the outside.

<Interview> Mr. Jang: "If I can just finish it, I won't have any regrets. If I can just get taller, I want to solve it no matter how much money I pay or what price I pay..."

He believes that marriage will also be easier.

<Interview> "(Are you sure that making friends and getting married will be easier if you have this surgery?) Yes. That's right. I don't want to be restricted in meeting people. I'm saying that height is a restriction in meeting the opposite sex."

A general hospital in Gyeonggi Province.

Today's surgery patient is 159 centimeters tall.

He is a 24-year-old male college student.

<Interview> Lee Dong-hoon (Professor, Bundang CHA Hospital, Orthopedics): "Friends who are stressed here can't get out of here. Some even say, 'Even if I become disabled, please do your best to operate on me.'"

Professor Lee Dong-hoon.

Professor Lee says that he only performs surgery on young people who have difficulty with interpersonal relationships due to their short stature.

He warns that if it is a decision made only for appearance, it is a very dangerous choice.

<Interview> "There are people who ask, 'Would you let your family have surgery?' I say that I wouldn't let my family have it. But if the stress is so severe that it interferes with social life, work life, and interpersonal relationships..."

<Interview> "This surgery is a surgery that can destroy a patient's life if it goes wrong. Therefore, the doctor must be very professional and very conscientious..."

The so-called 'height lengthening surgery' has recently emerged as a major social problem in China.

It is time for our medical community and health authorities to check how much of this height lengthening surgery is being performed and how many side effects there are.

The desperate hope of 'I wish I was even just a few centimeters taller...'

Our society's prejudice against height is causing 'short' young people to go under the dangerous knife again today.

 

 

Cover Story K Reporter Kim Won-jang

 

 

[Source]

KBS 1TV [Cover Story K] Height Lengthening Surgery: The "6cm Trap" Broadcast on August 30, 2013
Ilizarov surgery "trap of 6cm" KBS 1TV [cover report K]  Aug 30, 2013

 

Link: http://news.kbs.co.kr/news/NewsView.do?SEARCH_NEWS_CODE=2716232&ref=A

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