The Taller the Happier?
In 1905 Italians introduced a leg-lengthening technique and Russians took credit in further developing the procedure. Doctor Gavrill Illizarov used bicycle spokes to heal fractured broken bones, and later adapted a technique to lengthen limbs for cosmetic purposes. While an estimated 5% of Asians chose to get plastic surgery in the past year in America, cosmetic surgery is currently on the rise across Asia.
In China people have felt discriminated against because of their natural stature, the average Chinese woman is said to be around 5ft 2in while the average man is 5ft 6in. They have begun to look to the west for their ideal of beauty admiring the sports players, celebrities and supermodels that America holds to such high standards.
Assuming that beauty and power seem to be the result of height, many have begun to go under the knife for the extremely risky and potentially crippling, leg lengthening surgery.
Comparable to a surgery that may have taken places in the Middle Ages, leg lengthening surgery is where the doctor breaks the patient’s legs and inserts steel pins into the bones just below the knees. The pins are attached to a metal frame that needs to be tightened every day for months by the doctor, causing excruciating pain. It often takes 6 months for the patient to walk again, and typically individuals are restricted from running after having leg lengthening surgery. Although China recently banned the procedure after thousands of blotched surgeries were reported, many are still getting the procedure done at underground clinics across Asia.
When researching such disturbing procedures that not only have a physical impact on patients, but have psychological repercussions as well, I can’t help but wonder, who is to blame? How are we, as people allowing our bodies and minds to be overtaken by other’s ideals? The insane media attention on celebutantes like Lindsay Lohan and company can only encourage the problem and the world’s constant need for perfection. However, dangerous surgeries, which haven’t been approved, can’t be the answer to making individuals more powerful, accepted or beautiful.
More disturbing than the surgery itself, may be the fact that when filing through the news earlier this morning I came across ads for a new hot t-shirt reading “Free Paris.� Manufacturers take note: Design necessary shirt to be sold worldwide reading “Beauty comes from within� and recall all shirts to do with Paris Hilton immediately.
Technorati Tags: leg lengthening surgery, cosmetic surgery
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