Dr. Mahboubian, who practices in Burbank, Calif., was originally interested in sports medicine. However, he saw many of his colleagues were going into the same field and opted to do a fellowship for limb lengthening and deformity correction.
Limb lengthening surgery is a minimally invasive procedure in which a rod is inserted into the bone to facilitate growth. Dr. Mahboubian said in the report the most height a patient can gain is 8 centimeters, or 3.2 inches.
A combination of the pandemic giving people time to undergo the procedure and societal expectations related to height are factors contributing to the increased interest in limb lengthening, the report said.
