02 9602 1113
Appointments
Locations
 
Home » Conditions » Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Conditions » Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction » Stature Lengthening – psychological perspectives

Stature Lengthening – psychological perspectives

These notes are designed to be read in conjunction with those from Dr O’Carrigan on this same website.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CHALLENGES

Stature lengthening is inherently demanding and arduous and comes with some risks. The surgeon will explain in detail these possible risks to you. Osteotomies and limb lengthening processes are painful. The period during which you must not bear weight through your legs is long. Your ability to engage in your usual social, work and recreational activities will be vastly different for several months. Most people going through Stature lengthening (SL) report that they find the restrictions and changes to their life to be major challenges. As a team, we need to be sure that you are ready and resourced for these numerous difficulties. Therefore, you will have separate assessments with a nurse (who will need to see your home environment and meet your support people) and a clinical psychologist.

REASONS FOR SEEKING STATURE LENGTHENING

SL was developed to assist people who were born with or who developed medical problems that limited their growth. Some people now want to look different or be taller for reasons of emotional distress or low confidence, not purely for medical reasons. Some people perceive their body shape inaccurately, without realising it - they assume that their perception is accurate and have trouble accepting anyone else’s point of view. In strong cases, we call this Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). People with BDD and are very distressed by the way they see their appearance and often seek surgery. However, research has shown that people with BDD are highly unlikely to get the satisfaction from surgery that they so desperately seek. Therefore, as a team, we discourage anyone who may have BDD from using surgery as a medical solution to a mental health condition. There are known treatments for BDD and you can read more about that at these sites:

www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/body-dysmorphic-disorder-bdd

www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Looking-After-Yourself/Body-Dysmorphia

SUMMARY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS RELEVANT TO SL

Thus, the psychological issues for consideration by the surgical team and by all people thinking about SL include:

  • Personal reasons to seek SL and expected outcomes;
  • Readiness for and an ability to tolerate pain;
  • Readiness for a change in social, work and travel functioning;
  • Access to good social supports and a willingness to allow various people to help you in thehome;
  • Ability to comply 100% with all treatment requirements (most notably not weight-bearing);
  • An understanding of the risks and challenges and an ability to cope if there was an adverseevent in the course of your treatment;
  • Ability to work collaboratively with medical, nursing and physiotherapy staff;
  • Also able to accept a degree of personal responsibility for manage challenges and workingtowards personal goals.

Chris Basten
M.Psychol., Ph.D.