I'm having hard time quit smoking during my lengthening.

If you're a cigaretter smoker, the doctor will tell you to stop it because it's bad for bone growth. So better be ready to face it - especially when you are confined in one place...you know you'll be more stressed out and hence you'll need to smoke more.

If you have the surgery in U.S., the doctor may prescribe you strong painkillers such as vicondin or norco. They may notonly help with your pain but also they may help you feel better and thus help you avoid smoking cigarette. They are pretty addictive however.


When I had my initial surgery outside of U.S., they gave me over-the-counter or OTC painkillers such as tylenol - which helped. If you take OTC avoid anti-inflmmatory painkillers such as aspirin as they are not good for bone growth. Use tylenol or other acetaminophen.

I don't really know how would you avoid addiction to cigarette during limb lengthening and recovery. Even people who are not in surgery cannot avoid their addiction.

I suggest that you just concentrate on your end-result (that is gain as much height as you can) - it's tough love ----but I'm telling you if you plan doing this surgery only one time in you life, better do your best so you won't regret it for the rest of your life. You have invested so much in it (time and money) - why would your addiction to cigarette affect it. Stay away from cigarettes or even second hand smoking.


Instead of smoking, maybe you can walk around, talk with other patients, surf the internet, read books, play cards or chess or anything that keeps you away from cigarettes.

Do you actually feel better after gaining more height?

The answer is definitely yes. My confidence has really improved. I can now concentrate on my real goals in life and concentrate on my daily activities because now there are no more bugging insecurities. Before, I always had to think about how to look taller. I really hated the fact that I must wear lifts inside my shoes - this made me feel both good and insecure. I felt good that I look taller but much more insecure because it's all a lie. It's true what they say, the truth will always come out.......Limb lengthening has liberated me from all of the pretenses I had to do. So I know, deep in my mind and heart, that it's all worth it despite all the uncertainties and risk I had to undergo.

I really wish good luck to those of you who are planning on doing this. I realized from this ordeal that our will or spirit is much stronger than our physical body. There was a point in my recovery where I had to travel back and forth for follow-up doctor visits across the country and my body just wanted to give up. I was just so tired physically but for some reason I was able to make it. It seemed and felt like I, my spirit, is just dragging my body to where I wanna be. It's an amazing time to know about myself and who I am.

Is it worth it to grow 3.5 inches?

I guy emailed me and asked if it's worth it to grow only 3.5 inches. I think this is a great achievement. But I would like to put this in perspective. I think it's all about relativism and also about your own expectations. If you're 5'7" to start with then you become 5'10 1/2", this is like you were short then you became taller than average. But if you are 5'1" to start with and you become 5' 4 1/2" then you started from being short and you still are short after the surgery.

So both guys gained same height but two totally different results relative to social perception. I am not putting anyone down. If you gained 3.5 inches, consider yourself lucky because I had met someone who could only gain 1.5 inches because his bones wouldn't regenerate. I can still remember his anger and frustration. It is a very disappointing thing.

So please if you undergo this procedure, make sure that you do not only have physical strength but you should have emotional and psychological strength. Disappointments can be very bad.

On the other hand, I had met a patient and I believe he was only 19 or 21 and he was I think 5'6". He gained 2 inches and he said that's it and was already happy with it. He was young and his bones were very healthy. For sure he could have opt for 2 more inches and he would have made it but he was happy with 2 inches and at 5'8". So this is a different story.

So make sure to know yourself before going through his procedure. Good luck.

Funniest excuses why you're gonna be gone for 6 month for limb lengthening

Limb lengthening using llizarov takes between 6 months to over a year, depending on your circumstance. So when you do it, it's either you gonna have to be honest to your family, friends and co-workers or make a good excuse. When I had mine, I had met other llizarov patients. We exchanged our childhood stories, why we're doing the surgery, and what are our excuses for disappearing for such a long period of time. Below are some of the excuses I got:

1. It's a part of a doctorate degree requirement.
2. Went for a vacation and got into a car accident.
3. Already had knee problems and the travel outside the country only made it worst. Hence needed the surgery.
4. Study abroad.
5. Trip around the world, but this causes a lot of lies for each country you're pretending to be visiting.
6. Visit a college friend, who made it big in other country.
7. Your company required you to work at this certain country.

All the patients I met told me that no one in their family knows what they are doing except for one patient, her sister knows and no one else.

Good luck with your plans.

How much does limb lengthening costs in U.S. and success rate?

Doing limb lenthening for cosmetic reasons in U.S. is almost impossible. First, health insurance won't cover it. If you find a doctor that would do it, it may cost around $150,000 to cover doctor fees, hospital, nurses, and medications. I'm talking about llizarov method.

The success rate depends on the doctor and/or yourself. You can find the best doctor but if your bones do not regenrate well, your additional growth is limited. Or vice versa, you may have the best bone regeneration potential but your doctor is inexperienced, you may have limited sucess as well. So the best way to counter this is to research the prospect doctor. The best measure of a doctor's experience is the number of limb lenthening they have done in the past. Less the ten previous patients I think is not enough. You're just going to be a guinea pig.