And now I'm 57 potentially devastating complication.

It is kind of crazy.

You're breaking both of your fever's Thio.

Where I did broke both of my people is to get the surgery something just two sticks of bone on a metal bar in between so your bones effectively didn't grow back together.

Yeah, that's exactly yeah, we have to be very careful about what we're doing, how it's done.

If it goes wrong, it goes catastrophically is, ah, wild thing that you're doing.

But if it's gonna make you happier in the long run that it's worth mhm.

Ah Mm hmm.

A lot of people would probably like to be a few inches taller from dating, Show told me.

Oh, countless articles linking size and success.

Being small is seen as a big disadvantage on 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.

It claims to be able to help patients grow by a staggering 13 centimeters taller.

It was pioneered by this man, Gavrila Lazarov, 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.

Ah, hole is drilled into the leg bone, which is then literally broken into 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, which is their desired height on their bones, were 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 5 ft 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 on the shared cost of the procedure.

There's also the very real risk off serious complications, but some people are willing to take those risks.

I want to meet these people to find out what led them to get in the surgery, what their experiences have bean on, 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 like.

Sometimes I would fester are not being able to find Ah, wife were thinking that girls, which is 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 in 54 when I got the surgery done, and now I'm 57 on 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 on.

I don't think about it as being too short anymore.

Obviously, you were really aware off the potential consequences on 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.

Thio, or I did broke both of my people is to get the surgery.

So it's like You kinda have to rationalize that it is, ah, wild thing that you're doing.

But if it's gonna make you have here in the long run that it's worth 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 and 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 could 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 MAWR.

I'm on my way to visit Dr Adia, a renowned orthopedic surgeon in London.

Dr.

Judea specializes in limb 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, say people, when faced with a choice of going somewhere I have sent you, was reputable, but somewhere with very experienced limb deformity or in reconstruction surgical expertise versus is 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 whose particular sticks in my mind, who had significant lengthening it, is tedious and ended up with rapid onset arthritis, others who spent months and months and months during the rehab and eventually lost their jobs, their income stream and that fairly bad.

Also, it z moderate to high risk surgery.

But again, the patients often consider 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 have come across who wanted cosmetic lengthily 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 to the realms off.

Are we actually treating a body dysmorphic disorder, or are we actually giving people a lifestyle 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, blurred boundary.

In order to get a sense of just how serious the 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 56 to 59 Barney 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 Waas the fact that my bone separation was happening faster than my bone growth would happen.

So the basic my legs would be bones being pulled apart?

Um, a quite a fast rate, but my bone growth wasn't there.

So therefore, on the X rays, you could sort of see, it's sort of like the gap getting bigger and bigger and bigger and nothing.

So I basically just two sticks of bone on a little metal bar in between hand 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 are spending three months of my life and you cater for that.

And so you get so many people who book this time have a surgery, get spout the other side when they go to China, where they go to Japan, Hong Kong is it's totally global.

But their employer is like You're not fit, you can't come back.

That's when, like mortgage repayments suddenly start collapse and the unemployed on.

Not only are they unemployed unemployable Yeah, when things go wrong, then you kind of do need to support network.

Fortunately, I managed it.

I was fortunate.

Yes.

If it goes wrong, it goes catastrophically wrong.

Well, yeah.

Would you Would you recommend it to someone?

Would you recommend it once and you get that's a difficult one.

Would I recommend it?

Because, right, the cost I'm financially is whatever is.

But everything else is life changing.

There is immense amount of pain.

It's like you're in 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 that space, everyone wants to be taller.

Then it will be happening.

The fact that it is very, very, very rare is because it is so, so difficult on.

Then, if you did your research and found out how painful it is, um, a lot of people don't there be so many people who would do it.