TO GO WITH AFP STORY "Health-China-lifes

TO GO WITH AFP STORY "Health-China-lifestyle,FEATURE" by Pascal Trouillaud An X-Ray shows braces on a patients legs as Orthopedic surgeon Bai Helong describes the procedure of cutting into the legs of patients who want to be taller on March 30, 2010 in Shanghai. Over the past 15 years, Doctor Bai has given the gift of height to about 3,000 patients - Chinese, Americans, Germans, Japanese - ranging in age from 14 to 55, about half of whom simply did not like being short, by sawing through both the tibia and the fibula below the knee. One week later, the bones begin to regenerate while heavy braces made of nickel and titanium, each weighing about a half-kilo (one pound), are screwed into the inside of the legs of the patient's (on X-Ray) who every day for the following four months have Doctor Bai turn the screws on the braces to gradually stretch the leg. AFP PHOTO/Frederic J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)