so i started off at 5'4 is when i got
the surgery done
and now i'm 5'7 there are potentially
devastating complications
it is kind of creepy you're breaking
both of your femurs to where i did bro
both of my females to get this surgery
so i basically had just two sticks of
bone and a little
metal bar in between so your bones
effectively didn't grow back together
yeah that's exactly it yeah
we have to be very careful about what we
do and how it's done
if it goes wrong it goes
catastrophically wrong it is
a wild thing that you're doing but if
it's going to make you happier in the
long run
then it's worth it
[Music]
a lot of people would probably like to
be a few inches taller
from dating shows everyone told dark
enhancement to countless articles
linking size and success
being small is seen as a big
disadvantage and something you can't do
much about
until now limb lengthening surgery is a
long
expensive and painful undertaking which
nonetheless
is growing in popularity including here
in the uk
costing anything up to an eye watering
120 000 pounds
it claims to be able to help patients
grow by a staggering 13
centimeters taller it was pioneered by
this man
gavril elizorov a soviet doctor treating
injured soldiers returning from the
second world war
techniques have changed during the last
70 years but many of the principles
remain the same
a hole is drilled into the leg bone
which is then literally broken in two
a metal rod is put inside and held in
place by a number of screws
it's this rod which is lengthened a
little bit each day extending until the
patient reaches their desired height
and their bones are finally allowed to
heal back together
the surgery was once reserved for people
with a serious injury or deformity
but an increasing number of people are
having the procedure simply because they
just don't like their height
it's available in more than a dozen
countries from germany the us
russia serbia india south korea turkey
greece italy
and even here in the uk
as a five foot seven mountain of a man
myself i can understand why people might
be tempted by this kind of surgery
but taking such drastic measures for
just a few inches does feel a bit
extreme
not to mention the time the pain and the
sheer cost of the procedure
there's also the very real risk of
serious complications
but some people are willing to take
those risks i want to meet these people
to find out what led them to getting the
surgery what their experiences have been
and how their lives have changed for
better or for worse
so i guess i started thinking about it a
little bit more
my senior year of high school and like
women generally don't think
guys that are shorter than them so it's
kind of
tough to be a guy and approach a girl
that's taller than you it's like
sometimes i would fester on not being
able to find
a wife or thinking that girls would just
like never look at me when we were out
in public
so how have you changed physically and
then
as a consequence how has your life
changed so i
started off at 5'4 is when i got the
surgery done
and now i'm 5'7 and i'm not the tallest
person in the room
but in terms of like perspective like i
still
definitely think about hype i just think
about it a lot
less and i don't think about it as me
being
too short anymore obviously you were
really aware of the potential
consequences
and that they can be quite severe before
you got the surgery
were you scared for getting it or what
was your how are you feeling
i think you would be naive to say that
you weren't scared it is kind of crazy
you're breaking both of your femurs
to where i did bro both of my females to
get this surgery so it's like
you kind of have to rationalize that it
is a wild thing that you're doing
but if it's going to make you happier in
the long run
then it's worth it before i let sam go i
had a final question
it's one thing having the surgery a
world leading hospital
but what about the people going to the
cheaper clinics popping up all over the
world
there are people that get these
surgeries done
by doctors who really don't know what
they're doing and like
that's a scary thing you know it's not
something that you can just
have done and not think about four
months six months after the surgery you
have to really
know what's going on and still be in
contact with your doctor after that so
that you can get the full
benefits and rehabilitation that you
actually want to get out of the surgery
i can empathize completely with wanting
to do something about your height
but is it really worth putting your body
directly in harm's way
according to my research more and more
people are deciding it is worth it
several clinics are performing leg
lengthening operations at five
times the rate they were just 10 years
ago and hundreds of people are having it
done
each year to find out more i'm on my way
to visit dr goodyear
a renowned orthopedic surgeon in london
dr goodyear specializes in lim
reconstruction for people with an injury
or deformity
but what i'm interested in is his
experience treating people with
complications
from leg lengthening procedures they've
had abroad
so people when faced with a choice of
going somewhere
i said it was reputable but somewhere
with very experienced limb deformity
all in reconstruction surgical expertise
versus getting it done
on the cheap i don't think people are
necessarily made aware of all the things
that can go wrong
that often do go wrong while seeking out
a
limb lengthening department i have a
patient
who particularly sticks in my mind who
had significant lengthening of his
tibias
and ended up with rapid onset arthritis
others who spent months and months and
months doing the rehab and eventually
lost their jobs
their income stream and that fairly bad
enough so
it's it's it's moderate to high-risk
surgery
but again the patients often consider
the the outcome and the rewards to be
worth
it i also wanted to know why he thinks
someone who's otherwise physically
healthy
my top for such serious surgery most
people who i've come across who wanted
cosmetic lengthening
actually have quite often psychological
problems body dysmorphic disorders
and other problems where they have had
years of depression introspection about
their perceived
disability from their height so i think
we're getting into the realms of
are we actually treating a body
dysmorphic disorder
or are we actually giving people a
lifestyle a choice so that boundary
between what's a therapeutic
intervention for people with
body dysmorphic disorder who could be
helped by lengthening
versus people who want a lifestyle
choice to be a bit taller
is often a difficult and blurred
boundary
in order to get a sense of just how
serious a procedure it is
i wanted to speak with someone who had
met with complications
i got chatting to a british man who had
the surgery five years ago
growing from five six to five nine
barney's situation is different
he had a condition which meant he
required surgery to straighten his legs
he then opted to have the leg
lengthening procedure at the same time
reassured that it could all be done
together and it wouldn't affect his
recovery time
unfortunately he's been dealing with
problems ever since
so can you describe what your
complications were yeah okay so
really my only complication was the fact
that
my bone separation was happening faster
than
my bone growth would happen so basically
my legs have been my bones have been
pulled apart
at quite a fast rate
but my bone growth wasn't there so
therefore on the x-rays you could sort
of see it
sort of like you know the gap getting
bigger and bigger and bigger and
nothing so i basically had just two
sticks of bone and a little
metal bar in between hand so your bones
effectively didn't grow back together
yeah that's exactly it yeah
you go in and you're left with the
belief that oh it's only gonna be three
months out of my life and you cater for
that and so
you get so many people who book this
time
have a surgery get spat out the other
side
and when they go to china where they go
to japan
hong kong then it is it's totally global
but their employer is like you're not
fit you can't come back
and that's when like mortgage repayments
suddenly start collapse and they're
unemployed
and not only are they unemployed they're
unemployable yeah when things go wrong
then
you kind of do need a support network
fortunately i managed it i i i was
fortunate but
yeah it's if it goes wrong it goes
catastrophically wrong well yeah would
you would you recommend it to someone
would you recommend it
that's a difficult one would i recommend
it because right
the cost i'm financially is
whatever it is but everything else is
life changing and
there is an immense amount of pain
it's like you're entire every nerve in
your
legs are being stretched and so
therefore there are times when
you can't escape anywhere in your head
from the pain
it is absolutely excruciating
i think if it was easy let's face it
everyone wants to be taller
then it would be happening the fact that
it is very very
very rare is because it is so so
difficult
and then if you did your research and
found out how painful it is
um a lot of people are i don't there be
so many people who
do it