A man from Minnesota purportedly spent over $170,000 on two leg-lengthening surgeries in order to grow 5 inches taller and increase his dating confidence.
Moses Gibson, 41, claims he has had difficulty finding a companion due to his height. Before undergoing lengthening leg surgery, he stood at the height of 5-foot-5 inches and even took pills that falsely advertised that they would help him grow taller.
A spiritual healer reportedly told him it was possible if he focused his consciousness on increasing his height. However, Gibson discovered through additional investigation that he could grow by undergoing surgery.
Over the course of three years, he saved over $75,000 for the surgery by working as a software engineer during the day and an Uber driver at night.
He underwent surgery in 2016, which added three inches to his height, leaving him at 5ft 8 inches. “After the first procedure, I was happy with it to some extent, but it was always in my mind that I wanted to do a second one to complete it. I’m a high achiever. I’ve got the money, and I can finish the journey,” he explained.
Gibson has saved $98,000 to undertake a second height-increasing procedure in March of this year and hopes to gain an additional two inches. During surgery, his tibia and fibula were broken so that magnetic, Iimb-lengthening nails could be screwed into them. In addition, it allows the body to grow new bone tissue to complete the gaps created by its new height.
“They give you powerful pain medication as there are times when it’s really painful and you have to work through it. You go home and you have a week or two for some healing to happen before you get the device to start lengthening.”
Gibson hopes the surgery will help him attain a height of at least 5 feet and 11 inches while using a height-lengthening device. According to him, the procedures have helped him communicate with women, and he is presently in a relationship.
Is Leg Lengthening Surgery Safe
Leg lengthening surgery is a medical procedure that increases the length of a person’s legs. This surgery is typically done on people with a significant height difference between their legs or a limb length discrepancy due to a medical condition, such as dwarfism or a previous injury.
The procedure involves making a small incision in the leg bone and inserting an external fixator device. The fixator consists of metal pins placed into the bone and connected to a metal frame outside the leg. Over several months, the pins are gradually adjusted to stretch the bone and create new bone growth.
According to S. Robert Rozbruch, MD, Chief of the Limb Lengthening and Complex Reconstruction Service (LLCRS) at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine, once the lengthened bone is healed, this new bone is as strong as any other bone in the body and does not weaken or deteriorate over time.
This process can be uncomfortable and requires a lot of physical therapy, but it can significantly increase leg length.
Overall, limb lengthening surgeries have a high success rate (about 95%). Scarring is usually minimal since only small incisions are required in most procedures. Although minor problems may occur with pins and stiffening in the joints, serious complications from limb lengthening surgery are rare.
