Is bigger better? This controversial surgery is becoming increasingly common

It's no secret that plastic surgery is popular among celebrities and has become increasingly common with everyday people. Many are willing to pay large amounts of money and endure great pain to have the body they desire.

You probably have heard of people getting a nose job, or fixing their cheekbones. However, some can be less known and more drastic, available to anyone willing to go through them and can afford them. One of the most peculiar, becoming increasingly popular, is height surgery.

Bone elongation is a medical procedure that allows you to increase your height by a few inches. “The bone is cut into two segments that are slowly severed so that the space between them allows the formation of new bone,” explains the website of Instituto Downey, in Seville, Spain.

The actor and comedian Rich Rotella underwent this operation a few years ago. “I'm tired of people telling me, 'You're too short to play the lead'”, the performer confessed to People Magazine in 2022.

Rotella got his legs broken to go from being 5'5 (1.65 m) to 5'8 (1.73 m). However, it was not an easy process, taking over a year to recover.

Rotella had to pay over 100,000 US dollars for the operation, but it may cost more depending on how big you want to get. In some cases, it can cost up to 200,000 US dollars.

Photo: Alexander Gray / Unsplash

This type of surgery is not new. ICON magazine explains that it has been used for years for people with polio, dwarfism, or that has suffered some accidents. It has also been applied to children with different leg lengths.

What is peculiar is that now people are going through this painful procedure with a slow and difficult recovery solely for cosmetic reasons.

Rotella was treated by Dr. Dror Paley, from the Orthopedic & Spine Institute in Florida. The surgeon told People Magazine that he performs at least 100 surgeries every year. Throughout his career, he has done more than 25,000 operations of this kind.

As the surgeon has said in numerous interviews, the operation is based on advanced techniques and tools. Paley explains that a lengthening nail is placed inside the bone. This nail has a magnet-like device that, stimulated by an external tool, stretches. In this way, the bone grows by one millimeter each day.

Once you reach your desired height, you have to wait until the bone properly solidifies. Usually, it takes one month to heal for each extra centimeter. This is a state-of-the-art technique, since back in the day bones would be fixated with an external apparatus, which could lead to infections and fractures.

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