Leg-stretching surgery for the image conscious has been banned
by China's Health Ministry after a spate of botched operations.
"Only specialized orthopedic or comprehensive hospitals that
have authorized orthopedic sections are allowed to conduct the
operation," a ministry circular said.
"Some cosmetic institutions and unauthorized hospitals have
carried out unnecessary leg-stretching operations and attracted
customers through advertising," it said.
The operation, which involves breaking the patient's legs and
stretching them on a rack, has become popular among young
professionals desperate to raise their status in the country's
height-conscious society.
However, poor techniques and operating conditions and a lack of
nursing and recovery equipment have left many patients physically
and psychologically scarred, and damaged the reputation of the
medical profession in general, according to the circular.
Previously the country had no specific regulations on
leg-stretching surgery. Only two general regulations on medical
institutions and licensed doctors could be applied to unauthorized
hospitals and doctors.
The circular stipulates that the surgery can only be conducted
in orthopedic or comprehensive hospitals that do at least 400
orthopedic operations a year and offer post-surgery care and
rehabilitation.
It also requires surgeons to be licensed orthopedic specialists
with at least have five years of orthopedic clinical
experience.
The surgery is restricted to strictly medical grounds, such as
different limb lengths or damage caused by genetic problems,
serious injury or disease, tumours or infection.
Hospitals are instructed to refuse patients who are unfit for
the surgery and inform those suitable of its risks.
The ministry will regularly carry out quality evaluations of
hospitals that carry out the operation, and will revoke their
licenses if the quality cannot be ensured.
Last month, ten people were reported to have been disfigured
after they underwent the operation last year. They were all
introduced to the Beijing Xiangshan Hospital through a Chinese
website that advocated "height surgery with no pain".
In China, height is sometimes listed as requirement for jobs or
schools. Many employers require women to be at least 1.65 meters
tall and men 1.70 meters. Schools for acting or broadcasting
sometimes demand that women be at least 1.65 meters and men 1.75
meters.
According to the Beijing Institute of External Skeletal
Alteration Technology, the cost of the surgery is about US$15,000
to US$25,000 and it can require a recovery period of two years.
Leg-stretching surgery was originally developed in Russia to
help patients with legs disfigured by accidents or birth defects
such as dwarfism.
(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2006)