UNICORN - Dr. Guichet Internal Femurs 8cm - Summer 2016

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Quote from: YellowSpike on April 20, 2018, 01:44:39 PMAgreed on all fronts. While I don't disapprove of women doing LL, I was just trying to state that the increased risks (women seem to have an easier time lengthening but a harder time with bone regeneration/recovery) aren't as worth it. Yes, of course a woman's short stature may have an impact on her life, if people are calling her short/cute, I can see how that would be annoying. Especially when it comes to the workplace.

I know women think that "men just do LL so they can have more dating options," and while that's certainly not untrue, as I said, it has to do with what society expects men to be. A man should be TALL, first and foremost, THEN good looking, in shape, financially successful, confident (which depends greatly on these factors to begin with), etc. Many people, women and men alike, do not see short men as "real men," and let me tell you, as a man, there is no greater pain than having your masculinity taken away from you. There's also more pressure for us, on a very primal level, to go out there and "land" a woman. I understand we're in 2018 and many women don't think these basic "rules" still apply, but as much as you might deny it, they do. Women still want men to dominate (be more masculine then them in all ways, aka "be the man in the relationship") them physically (not financially, women can and should make as much as we do, and I applaud them for that!), and height is a huge factor in this. Imagine being a very short man with few dating options, unable to afford LL - there's a greater likelihood this man will never find a woman. So you might say "men do LL just to get women," but it's a lot deeper than that.

Yes, as a short woman, you might get jabs from family and friends and in the workplace, and that I'm sure sucks. I didn't mean to downplay that. And of course, it has to do with your own self image too. But at least your womanhood or attractiveness (in most cases, unless the man in question really likes tall women, which in my opinion most men don't care about womens' height that much) or ability to attract a life partner isn't nearly as greatly reduced.

Well said.

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Quote from: Petite888 on April 20, 2018, 07:35:06 AMI turned 40 this year, am female and am of SE Asian desent, living in the U.K, and before I came across your journal, was strongly considering Guichet as an option for CLL.  Thank you so much for your journal, as without it I might have gone ahead with it!

I wouldn't let 1 bad case completely cancel Guichet out, if it did then there wouldn't be a single CLL doctor for you!

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Quote from: Unicorn888 on April 19, 2018, 09:39:59 PMSo PLEASE, don't tell women that it's less necessary for them than it is for men

But it is.

Quote from: Android on April 19, 2018, 10:54:39 PMWholeheartedly agree with Unicorn. While many more women are comfortable with their short stature than men are due to embracing positive identities like petite, which have no male equivalent, shorter women are also relegated to "cute." Most grown men hate to be called a boy, and many women don't like being called a girl into adulthood either.

To me it sounds like a woman that's angry because she's a woman rather than because she's shorter. It's almost like you're getting surgery to be more like a man.

Quote from: Body Builder on April 19, 2018, 10:23:38 PMMen need height much more than women.
The ideal for men is tall dark and handsome. For women height is not necesarry, on the contrary many men prefer short women much more than tall ones.
Women who prefer short men over tall ones are very very few, so few as men who like fat women.

Men that like fat women are like women that like short guys — they are liars. You have a good point, there is a 'market' for women of all heights, but for men it's almost entirely in the 5'9-6'2" category.

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Another observation just from reading your opinions.

And my goal is not to make myself enemy no 1 of all the men out here.  My summary from your posts : Men tend to want CLL because they feel innadequate when it comes to attracting partners - which could be emasculating all around.

From all the women that I've come across who did CLL, our goal is not to use height to attract men.  We think a pretty face, nice long hair, being feminine, nice personality, good taste in clothes, sxxy shoes and obviously, being fit all helps.

HOWEVER, most of us (me included) mainly want CLL because of the emotional scars from a lifetime of not being taken seriously because we look like little girls.  And we're lucky that women can correct unattractiveness with make overs etc, but to suffer 4 inch heels at work everyday for 20 years just ultimately kills you.  I did spend almost every standing moment of the work day obsessing about my painful feet.

While men want CLL mostly for mating/earning/acceptance potential, women who do it may just want some gravitas at work (imagine me in a conference room in Zurich, classic setting of all white men board members and little me.  When we're all standing, I'm so tiny they can't tell if I'm there to serve drinks or to direct them).

That said, we've to respect our individual reasons for wanting CLL.  I myself go through so much self hatred when I see myself in a bikini before, it's purely my own mental anguish.  And the last thing in my mind is how I'm going to attract a man by being taller or how I can make all the women envious.

My enemy is myself, staring me down in front of the mirror telling me, I'm not good enough.

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Quote from: Unicorn888 on April 20, 2018, 02:37:43 PMAnother observation just from reading your opinions.

And my goal is not to make myself enemy no 1 of all the men out here.  My summary from your posts : Men tend to want CLL because they feel innadequate when it comes to attracting partners.

From all the women that I've come across who did CLL, our goal is not to use height to attract men.  We think a pretty face, nice long hair, being feminine, nice personality, good taste in clothes and obviously, being fit all helps.

HOWEVER, most of us (me included) mainly want CLL because of the emotional scars from a lifetime of not being taken seriously because we look like little girls.  And we're lucky that women can correct unattractiveness with make overs etc, but to suffer 4 inch heels at work everyday for 20 years just ultimately kills you.  I did spend almost every standing moment of the work day obsessing about my painful feet.

I agree that men want CLL mostly for mating and earning potential, while women who do it may just want some gravitas at work (imagine me in a conference room in Zurich, classic setting of all white men board members and little me.  When we're all standing, I'm so tiny they can't tell if I'm there to serve drinks or to direct them).

That said, we've to respect our individual reasons for wanting CLL.  I myself go through so much self hatred when I see myself in a bikini before, it's purely my own mental anguish.  And the last thing in my mind is how I'm going to attract a man by being taller or how I can make all the women envious.

My enemy is myself, staring me down in front of the mirror telling me, I'm not good enough.

You are right Unicorn and I am sorry that you had such low self esteem from your height. No one should have to suffer through that.

The only thing I would correct is when you said "Men do LL to be more attractive to better attract partners," while that's true, it's not the whole picture. Men do LL so they can be respected and seen as "real men" by women and other men alike. It's much deeper than just attracting females. Not all women care about height, but the vast majority of them do, and trust me, as a short man, you are also going to experience discrimination and bullying from other men too. And even if you try to hide your height insecurity (like I did), as a man, it is still perfectly acceptable for women and men to outright insult a man due to his height (something he has no control over). If men were to shoot a woman down and call her fat or ugly, we'd be crucified and shamed, but with the double standard, it seems that a man's height is always fair game to actively and publicly shame.

So yes, we do LL to get more women, but also do so to reclaim our masculinity/manhood.

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Quote from: Petite888 on April 20, 2018, 07:35:06 AMHi Unicorn,

I have been reading your journal from beginning to end over the last couple of weeks and what a rollercoaster you have been on!

 I turned 40 this year, am female and am of SE Asian desent, living in the U.K, and before I came across your journal, was strongly considering Guichet as an option for CLL.  Thank you so much for your journal, as without it I might have gone ahead with it!

Please stay strong and and positive as there will be an after and I believe for you, it will be a great after. I am so glad to hear that you have a little callus formation on one side, hopefully this will improve after bone graft.

Reading through Doctor Donghoon’s blog, it seems he uses stem cell to help with poor bone formation? Is this something that could possibly help you?He is my strongest option at the moment because of this and Also because I read he is an artist when it comes to cuts/scars.

Wishing you you miraculous recovery and sending you much love 💕.

As far as stemcells go, Guichet had harvested marrow aspirate from my hip bones and injected them into my 9cm runaway non-union gap.  And no, it didn't work and the reason is because the gap is too far apart.  It was like pouring water onto a concrete ground hoping grass will sprout.  It might have worked on an 80-year old lady with a hip fracture or bone fissure.  But not on my whopping grand canyon.

That said, please becareful as an asian female, be conscious about curved femurs, use small nails 11mm, don't over ream, and lengthen slowly (again, it's not a race of who finishes first or with the most height).  And try to use a nail that's remote control instead of manual clicking as it will affect the QUALITY, trauma and pain management of your life tremendously and one that also can stop and reverse should there be slow/non-union.

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Quote from: YellowSpike on April 20, 2018, 02:52:59 PMYou are right Unicorn and I am sorry that you had such low self esteem from your height. No one should have to suffer through that.

The only thing I would correct is when you said "Men do LL to be more attractive to better attract partners," while that's true, it's not the whole picture. Men do LL so they can be respected and seen as "real men" by women and other men alike. It's much deeper than just attracting females. Not all women care about height, but the vast majority of them do, and trust me, as a short man, you are also going to experience discrimination and bullying from other men too. And even if you try to hide your height insecurity (like I did), as a man, it is still perfectly acceptable for women and men to outright insult a man due to his height (something he has no control over). If men were to shoot a woman down and call her fat or ugly, we'd be crucified and shamed, but with the double standard, it seems that a man's height is always fair game to actively and publicly shame.

So yes, we do LL to get more women, but also do so to reclaim our masculinity/manhood.

Agree with you Yellowspike.  I don't mean to undermine the reasons why men want CLL.  I think universally, most of us are here for one glaring symptom : short stature neurosis (whether it stems from low self esteem, being bullied, feeling innadequate, not being taken seriously, pay gap, dating/work discrimination etc.)

And with technology (nascent one), there's now this possibility to actually improve our physical form, so that ultimately we can overcome our own mental shortcomings.  How ironic.

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Quote from: myloginacct on April 20, 2018, 02:48:49 AMI'd like to see a 60 year old, frail, 155cm Asian man with a lifetime history of smoking and alcoholism, and who comes to one of these doctors wanting to lengthen no less than 9cm in his tibias, eating his usual low-protein, low-caloric diet to be immediately shown the door, not be told "let's start and see how it goes; 9cm is an ambitious goal, you know" after they think of the cash, or that it was the patient's own decision.

And I've seen that happen with a 6ft tall older man with a slight mental disability.  Not turned away, but welcomed with open arms 

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Quote from: W on April 20, 2018, 02:35:04 PM You have a good point, there is a 'market' for women of all heights, but for men it's almost entirely in the 5'9-6'2" category.

More personal anecdotes and height thresholds. What you mean to say is: "for men, it's almost entirely in the [average male height in your country]/[taller than the average upper end of the average female height in your country] category".

Everyone should avoid making posts like "X height is absolute minimum for a man", "Y/Z is too short/too tall for a woman". This is what triggers height neurosis and this is a global forum. Even I have thoughts like this (regarding male height), but I avoid posting them due to this reason.

Your first reaction to reading this post might be to tell me to "deal with it", but I assure you, if posting on this forum was limited to Dutch IPs, most of us would have our height dysphoria triggered by posts like this. "6'0.5" is the absolute minimum for a man", "anything below 5'7.5" is too short for a woman". Those are the averages in the tallest country in the world. Context (country) matters a lot in these discussions.

Quote from: Unicorn888 on April 20, 2018, 02:37:43 PMAnother observation just from reading your opinions.

And my goal is not to make myself enemy no 1 of all the men out here.  My summary from your posts : Men tend to want CLL because they feel innadequate when it comes to attracting partners.

From all the women that I've come across who did CLL, our goal is not to use height to attract men.  We think a pretty face, nice long hair, being feminine, nice personality, good taste in clothes and obviously, being fit all helps.

HOWEVER, most of us (me included) mainly want CLL because of the emotional scars from a lifetime of not being taken seriously because we look like little girls.  And we're lucky that women can correct unattractiveness with make overs etc, but to suffer 4 inch heels at work everyday for 20 years just ultimately kills you.  I did spend almost every standing moment of the work day obsessing about my painful feet.

I agree that men want CLL mostly for mating and earning potential, while women who do it may just want some gravitas at work (imagine me in a conference room in Zurich, classic setting of all white men board members and little me.  When we're all standing, I'm so tiny they can't tell if I'm there to serve drinks or to direct them).

That said, we've to respect our individual reasons for wanting CLL.  I myself go through so much self hatred when I see myself in a bikini before, it's purely my own mental anguish.  And the last thing in my mind is how I'm going to attract a man by being taller or how I can make all the women envious.

My enemy is myself, staring me down in front of the mirror telling me, I'm not good enough.

Everyone has their own reasons to want to do a crazy surgery like this. However, the crux of it, at least to me, is obtaining peace of mind. Peace of mind with your own body. I think that's the same for men and women alike, even though it seems a lot is getting lost in translation here.

Men and women tend to feel inadequate about their heights for different reasons, but at the end of the day, that's just the feeling of inadequacy manifesting itself in its different ways.

Getting taller may apparently be the solution to that in people's minds. It is also generally both true with regards to women being treated more seriously, and men getting increased dating options/feeling like "men". Both lead to better peace of mind. Too bad it requires this surgery. (Edit: to get physically taller, at least.)

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Quote from: Unicorn888 on April 19, 2018, 12:17:43 AMHere's the latest 3D scan and even though my doctor hasn't seen it yet, this is what I measured.  I have some callus bridge on one side of the femur which I think is an improvement.

The other side is still completely empty.  I will definitely consider grafting, that's the only thing NHS wants to do right now.  They do not want to risk further with nail removal, shortening, fitting in new nails and relengthening.

Actually I think this x-ray is the most promising one of your non-union leg so far Unicorn. your xrays before showed no callus at all which was rightfully very concerning. have you done something different because whatever it is it seems to be working! it's still not ideal of course because the bridge is only on one side but the fact that your bone is growing a bridge at all I think is still a million times better than when there was nothing.

Please stay strong Unicorn! I do think there is a light at the end of the tunnel for you and am hoping for the best for you after all you've been through.