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Is It Possible To Increase Height At The Age Of 21?
Question: My son's age is 21 years. His height is 4.8 ft. How can he grow his height? Please advise on this,please.
Brief Answer:
Difficult to increase growth with medicine and surgery is only choice
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for writing in to us.
I have read through your query in detail.
Please find my observations below.
1. The bones in males stops growing at the age of 21 years. After the age of 21 years there is no more lengthening of the bones and it is likely that your son will not grow in height by medical means.
2. It is possible to treat children during childhood and adolescence till the age of 21 years by giving growth hormone injections. After this age the bones will not grow even if growth hormone is given.
3. The only choice your your son might have is by surgically lengthening the bones of legs by a method called Ilizarov technique and this involves surgically separating the bones of the leg at the mid shaft and slowly distracting the cut ends. It take 6 months or more to achieve the desired growth. The average increase in height is about 4 to 6 inches. It is to be kept in mind that this procedure is not for every patient and the patient is counseled before panning Ilizarov technique. This is because the patient is immobile and unable to walk for at least 6 months during the procedure. It should be done in a setup where they have treated such patients.
Hope this answers your question. Please feel free to correct any oversight in my interpretation of your problems and discuss them in detail as per your requirements.
Hope your query is answered.
Do write back if you have any doubts.
Regards,
Dr.Vivek
Difficult to increase growth with medicine and surgery is only choice
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for writing in to us.
I have read through your query in detail.
Please find my observations below.
1. The bones in males stops growing at the age of 21 years. After the age of 21 years there is no more lengthening of the bones and it is likely that your son will not grow in height by medical means.
2. It is possible to treat children during childhood and adolescence till the age of 21 years by giving growth hormone injections. After this age the bones will not grow even if growth hormone is given.
3. The only choice your your son might have is by surgically lengthening the bones of legs by a method called Ilizarov technique and this involves surgically separating the bones of the leg at the mid shaft and slowly distracting the cut ends. It take 6 months or more to achieve the desired growth. The average increase in height is about 4 to 6 inches. It is to be kept in mind that this procedure is not for every patient and the patient is counseled before panning Ilizarov technique. This is because the patient is immobile and unable to walk for at least 6 months during the procedure. It should be done in a setup where they have treated such patients.
Hope this answers your question. Please feel free to correct any oversight in my interpretation of your problems and discuss them in detail as per your requirements.
Hope your query is answered.
Do write back if you have any doubts.
Regards,
Dr.Vivek
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Vinay Bhardwaj
Answered by
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