Breaking Bones to Grow Taller in India | Deadly Beauty

42 years old Mukesh from India is going to break his legs to grow taller problems he will be operated on using the Elizabeth method which had been used in the past to correct limb deformity now it is popular among those who want a cosmetic heightened crease email end up in the complications the bone will lengthen it may fail to unite he should May develop the infection he may develop the contractures and he may develop the deformities six weeks after the surgery Mukesh is having second thoughts [Music] in India height is often viewed as an asset when it comes to marriage and social standings according to a national family and health survey the average height of men in India is roughly 5 feet 8 inches or 172 centimeters while men in countries like China have had an average heightened crease of 7.5 centimeters in the last 30 years Indian men on the other hand have on average become a centimeter shorter in the past decade this is a clear sign of a decline in public health and nourishment I'm in Jaipur in Northwestern India to meet Mukesh tanishwar and Indian railways officer who has traveled over 600 kilometers for a heightened crease Mukesh is 42 years old and has tried for several years to change his natural height guys um foreign foreign [Music] foreign foreign foreign [Music] developed by Dr Gabriel ilizarrov in the year 1951. the ring fixator method eventually came to be named after the Polish surgeon himself created to fix limb deformities in soldiers post the second world war Orthopedics the world over have regarded it as a breakthrough procedure the technique has found popularity in India over the years and there has been a sharp rise in its usage for limb lengthening for cosmetic reasons I'm meeting Dr Mina an experienced Orthopedic practitioner who will perform the surgery on Mukesh with over three decades of experience Dr Mina has performed hundreds of Elizabeth method procedures both for limb correction and cosmetic lengthening on patients I used to see the patients with the severe accident they lost these segments of their ball so it was a constant and continuous pain to me that the patients are getting disabled and simultaneously Professor elizarro's work was there and started working on me so it is basically to hold the bone at two places and cut the bone and gracefully pull the bone in the smaller amount one millimeter per day Grizzly newborn will form and it is known as destruction osteogenesis you are distracting you are putting forces on the bone the bone will regenerate new bone will form so I can show in this model these are the the part fixed by the fixator fracture you can see the fracture here when you move these destructors you will have the destruction but this is the procedure which is a very difficult procedure and you are operating upon a normal patient you need an intelligent patient to tackle with the fixator so why did you agree to operate on Mukesh I made him three to four times and I always disgrace the lengthening process so he's a 40 year old male I refuse him but in spite of that he was insisting me and last time he came with his wife and she was also telling the same thing sir you lend the name so I forced to do the lengthening procedure in this patient it is a reconstructive procedure it is a cosmotic procedure it should not be taken lightly so do you think it would be a new before you yes foreign thank you how long will the procedure be this morning on Mukesh it will take say around one and a half hour per leg so it should say around three years is this a high risk procedure uh it is a risky procedure in the sense that it is a cosmetic surgery and cosmetic surgery we discussed the pros and cons with the patient email end up in the complications complications like the bone we lengthen it may fail to unite he should be develop the infection he may develop the contractors and he may develop the deformities and the consolidation phase these these tendering phase May increase foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] different flavors at least just above the ankle and just below the result and we cut the bone here cut the bone here and reasonably we pull it down we will take it out as these desired lens is actually we will take it out and we'll lock the nail here so it becomes a stable constraint so basically the top ring is going to hold his bone in place this is going to pull right hold the lower bottom of the ball for this Simplicity these nuts has been you can hear the doors here you have a full turn of one millimeter energy okay so it's a very gradual lengthening and many times a patient develops pain then they stop the destruction but it's possible that he may form a deformity while healing right deformity we have the nail inside the nail will prevent the deformity nail will not allow for the deformity to develop so there is no chance of risk in his healing healing you may have a delayed healing [Music] watching the procedure wasn't as queasy as I'd anticipated mukesh's persistence to gain some inches like many others is not lost on me I still find it hard to understand why somebody would voluntarily break their bones and have them attached to wires but it's not in my place to understand I guess everybody does what works for them even if that is a risky thing to do foreign were visiting him to check in on his progress how are you feeling um [Music] [Music] hello hi mushrooms [Music] you can take outside full okay yeah [Music] when will he be able to go home Monday we are going to send him home and you will ask him he is to come back after two weeks foreign [Music] that depends how much length you want yeah maximum amount at a time lengthening is not more than a 15 to 18 percent of the normal length of the extremity [Music] [Laughter] [Music] while Mukesh was in great spirits the day after the procedure does not always have desired results several cases of complications have occurred in the past especially in India like in the case of nikhil reddy in the southern city of Hyderabad complications can range from simple infections to the loss of a limb in extreme cases to date at least a dozen botched up surgeries or complications have been recorded in India [Music] so we've come to nagpur which is where Mukesh lives it's been six weeks since his operation and while the first month went really smoothly over the last 10 days he's developed some complications so we're here now to find out how he's doing [Music] a minute [Music] foreign [Music] foreign on a scale of 1 to 10. foreign [Music] foreign [Music] nerves can get injured or vessels can get injured while putting the wires through the bone then those wires can get infected which we call pin track infections and sometimes the bone which is formed after the limb lending that is not strong enough and that can get fractured in nagpur we also met Dr Vivek tiwari an orthopedic doctor who has researched specific complications that arise from the ilizarrov method the pin track infections in particular are quite commonly seen But in majority of the cases they can be treated with antibiotics or dressing changes discrepancy in the limb is not very common but yes it is seen if at all the limb discrepancy is there that will not be significant it will only be minor and can be corrected with a shoe rays the pressure to be tall in society particularly in Indian Society is real you can look at matrimonial ads New Age dating websites and apps casting calls for models actors even certain jobs that have a basic minimum criteria height can be a huge impediment irrespective of your skills and talent there's no escaping what your height can mean for you as a person or in society [Music] 14 centimeters complications [Music] I also foreign [Music]

Channel: VICE Asia

Views: 5,167,077

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice.com

Id: AomPemsgjmg

Length: 20min 10sec (1210 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 02 2022