Bone lengthening techniques are not exactly new, but they are being used to add height to those who are unhappy with their God given proportions:

Surgeons break the leg bone in two and implant a state-of-the-art telescopic rod into the middle of the broken bones which then pulls the bone apart very slowly, about one millimeter a day. New bone grows around it and tissues like the muscle, the nerves, the arteries, and the skin, regenerate as well. At about $85,000, the procedure is expensive and the process lengthy. It takes at least three months to complete it and it requires demanding and excruciating physical therapy.
Source: abcnews.go.com/Health/york-man-grows-inches-surgery/story?id=15776730#.T0pBAXlCCAg

Distraction osteogenesis is a process pioneered by a Russian doctor in the 1950s by the name of Ilizarov. In a World in which general insurance-based medical procedures are paying less and less it is only natural for someone to modify the technique and sell it as cosmetic. It is the direction in which medicine is going. Re-working and re-branding reconstructive techniques into cash paying cosmetic procedures goes a long way to making you profitable.

Apparently the doctor named in the story has internalized the Ilizarov frames which were ugly when I saw them many years ago. As long as this does not introduce additional problems, it sounds pretty good.

The original frames were bulky external rods that held the broken bones with large bore pins through the skin leaving scars. These were employed in fractures complicated by the loss of bone to bring their length back to original specifications. The real changes here are the design of the frame and the re-branding it as a cosmetic service; well that and the price tag of course.

Best Regards,

John Di Saia MD