A new study by the UK’s leading leisure operator Better has revealed that a shocking one-in-10 16-24-year-olds are considering getting leg lengthening surgery.
The extreme operation can cause you to grow between three and six inches, and can set you back by nearly £70k, yet it’s growing in popularity.
The study also found that the most popular surgeries are teeth veneers (16%) and hair transplants (12%), full jaw reconstruction (10%), and 8% would undergo penile augmentation.
What is leg lengthening surgery?
The controversial surgery is on the rise.
According to the International Centre for Limb Lengthening, it’s a procedure to lengthen the bones in the arms or legs, which is done as a gradual process, so that the bones and soft tissues (skin, muscles, nerves, etc.) slowly increase in length over time
It’s not always used for aesthetic reasons. Some people get the surgery on one leg if one is naturally shorter than the other.
With leg lengthening, typically the tibia bone is cut straight across, and a fixator brace device is attached, which has a bar that’s twisted every day very slowly so that the two sides of the tibia are pulled apart — sounds lovely.
Bone is created in the space in between, hence the added length. The whole process can take several months.
What is fuelling the trend?
With our lives being increasingly lived in the digital sphere these days, it’s not hard to see why men might be insecure about their height.
We’ve all seen people’s Tinder bios that advertise for “six-foot men only”.
But there are also tons of women out there who go for personality over height, and say that actually, height doesn’t come into things when they’re considering a potential partner.
The rise of the term ‘short king’ and Short King Appreciation Day being an annual event means that society is coming to embrace and celebrate shorter men.
But toxic masculinity still sees anyone under six feet as not being good enough.
It goes both ways. According to a 2013 study, “men liked being taller than their partners, but they didn’t care about the height difference as much as women did.”
And out of 650 college students who took part in the study, the average man preferred a woman three inches shorter than him, and the average woman chose a man eight inches taller than her.
In an interview with Vice, one man who’d undergone leg lengthening surgery said, “I’d always been a bit insecure about my height to be totally honest.”
He says that, at five foot seven, he really thought he’d benefit from having a few more inches added to his height. He spent 20,000 euros on the treatment, factoring in hotel costs, flights, etc.
Someone commented on the video, “I’ve had this surgery in the UK to fix an issue in my right leg. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever had done in my life.”
With that in mind, it might be best to think about whether the surgery is truly worth it.
To our short kings – you’re lovely how you are!