Some patients ask, “Doctor, my height is too short, only 155cm (male), I am 17 years old, is there any way to grow taller?” Or a girl, “Doctor, I’m 16 years old, but I’m only 152cm tall, what should I do?” When I encounter such patients, I can only shrug my shoulders and say with a helpless face, “There is no way out, you can go to orthopedics or plastic surgery to see. Maybe they can help you break the bone of your thigh and attach a little bit to it.”
In fact, it is not that no one has done this surgery, some people have done it and the result is not ideal “one leg is long, one leg is short, walking is wobbly.” Therefore, there is no one willing to do the surgery.
Generally, in a normally developing male, puberty occurs around the age of 11, and after the age of 16, the epiphysis closes and height stops growing because the androgen level in the body is already very high. If you already have erection and seminal emission, already need to shave every other day, and already have a normal sex life, then it means that your pubertal development is basically completed, and it is too late to think about height growth.
In general, female patients develop puberty around the age of 8, and their epiphyses close at the age of 14-15 when they have regular menstruation. It becomes very difficult to increase height again.
Therefore, for these short height patients of both sexes who have passed puberty, I will ask them to take a bone age film first to clarify whether the epiphysis has closed. If the epiphysis is closed, I will happily tell them: Congratulations, at your age, you should have completed puberty and your epiphysis should be closed. If it is not closed, it means that you have other endocrine developmental problems. Now, the epiphysis has closed according to the normal pattern, which means that your sexual development is completely normal, congratulations.
Lesson learned: If you are worried about your or your child’s height, please consult with your doctor as soon as possible.