Orthopedic surgeon Shahab Mahboubian, DO, has seen an increase in limb lengthening procedures since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, BuzzFeed News reported April 29.
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.