[1] In 2016, a systematic review of papers describing bone and soft tissue outcomes of DO procedures on the lower jawbone was published; the authors had planned to do a meta-analysis but found the studies were too poor in quality and too heterogeneous to pool.

[5] This was not sufficient evidence from which to generalize, but the authors noted that while both procedures produced notable hard and soft tissue improvements, the DO group had greater advancement of the maxillary and less horizontal relapse five years after surgery.

[5] There was no difference in speech or nasal emissions outcomes nor in adverse effects; the DO group had lower satisfaction at three months after surgery but higher at two years.

[1] The paper presented the results of efforts to treat 26 people who were born with malformed legs; Codivilla cut the femur, put a pin in the heel bone, and applied traction to each person.

[1][10] His paper showed high levels of complications, including infection, tissue death, and bones that failed to join, and his methods were not adopted.

[12] One surgeon in India stated: "This is one of the most difficult cosmetic surgeries to perform, and people are doing it after just one or two months' fellowship, following a doctor who is probably experimenting himself.

Some patients have received infections and had to undergo additional surgeries months later to regain the ability to walk, while others found that they gained less height than expected.

[16] The plot of the 1997 American dystopian science fiction film Gattaca involves one character assuming the identity of another and leg lengthening is depicted as part of the elaborate ploy to achieve this subterfuge, along with the use of various bodily fluids to avoid detection by DNA sequencing.