Tourists are travelling to Turkey for a new extreme form of cosmetic surgery to make them as much as six inches taller.
Brits are among tourists paying for holiday packages which include the operation where surgeons saw through patients’ legs – before separating the segments over months to extend them as new bone mass grows in the gap. The NHS warned Brits against undergoing the “painful” procedure saying it comes with a high risk of serious complications such as infection, nerve damage and even “permanent disability”.
The Mirror was granted access to the Wannabetaller clinic in Istanbul – now a major global centre for the op – where men told us how they felt that being taller would improve their self esteem.
Its lead surgeon told us many of his patients pay to be taller because they were teased about their height at school and now struggle to find a girlfriend. Hundreds of tourists are travelling to Istanbul for the op as part of a three-month stay which can also include a minibus tour of the city before they go under the knife.
Lead surgeon Dr Yunus Oc said: “Most patients are male. It can be when their family is long but this patient is shorter. Some patients, their school friends made jokes about this problem.
“Patients may not be chosen by a girl for a relationship. These patients have more mental problems for social activity. When we add 8cm or 9cm they feel more good. Some patients are hoping for a wife and children but they don’t like their body.”
Leg-lengthening surgery, known as distraction osteogenesis, breaks the femur or tibia bones – or both – and gradually separates the segments, allowing new bone to grow in the gap.
Hundreds of people around the world undergo the procedure for cosmetic reasons every year, including a small number at private hospitals in the UK, but traditionally it could cost over £100,000. The Wannabetaller clinic now offers the procedure for £20,000 which is tempting many more men desperate to be taller to take the risk.
The most common lengthening over nail (LON) technique sees Dr Oc drill out a hollow space inside the leg bone and insert an extendable nail inside, attached to a metal frame outside the leg.
The initial two-and-a-half hour operation separates the bones by half a centimetre. The patient then turns a screw on the external frame to separate the bones by a further one millimetre every day. This is where patients experience pain as muscle and nerves are also stretched.
Wannabetaller operates at a large private hospital in Istanbul called BHT Clinic and has now carried out the procedure around 800 times. When we visited one of its rehab facilities it was based on the second floor of an apartment building further out in the suburbs of the city.
Six men with metal frames in their thighs sat in beds or chairs and moved using zimmer frames. They were being cared for by three physiotherapists and a nurse who changed their wound dressings a number of times each day to avoid infections taking hold.
One of the men was Bertrand Darmanin, a 23-year-old construction worker from France, who had learnt about the operation on social media site TikTok. He said: “I felt I was too short at 1.7 metres tall and wanted to reach 1.8m.” Asked why he opted for such drastic surgery he replied: “So I would feel better about myself and be more confident.”
Another man we spoke to asked only to use his first name and not show his face. Robert, an engineer in his 50s, from Oregon, USA, had undergone the operation two weeks earlier having paid around £25,000 for his package.
He said: “It’s always bothered me. I’m 5ft 2ins and I just want to be average height, like 5ft 6in or 5ft 7ins. It bothers me so I just want to do it to get it out of my head. I just want to get a little height, not too tall and not too short.
”I felt it was worth the risk so in the end I will have better confidence in myself. It’s bothered me since I was like 15-years-old and I didn’t even know this was possible.
”I did some research on it and just thought ‘let’s do it’. I will feel more confident, have more self esteem and just be less stressed thinking about it. It’s just for myself, not for anyone else, that’s why I did it. I think more people who have this height issue will want to consider it. If scientifically it’s possible then why not?”
Leg-lengthening surgery was first used on children born with one leg significantly longer than the other, to rectify what would otherwise be a lifelong disability.
NHS leaders warn against Brits travelling to Turkey to have the procedure for cosmetic reasons, saying that if not done carefully it is high risk. They warn bones separated too quickly may not mend or will grow together with tissue too fragile to bear the body’s weight and legs can end up being different lengths.
Prof Tim Briggs, an orthopaedic surgeon and NHS England’s national director for clinical improvement and elective recovery, told the Mirror: “Surgery of this kind is not a quick fix solution and carries significant risks including death so should not go ahead for the sake of gaining or losing a few extra inches.
“Patients going ahead with this gruelling surgery face months of extremely painful treatment, with the added risk of potential infection, nerve damage, blood clots and even permanent disability and should only be considered where there is a genuine clinical need.
“Anyone considering this surgery for cosmetic reasons abroad should think very carefully about the long recovery and the risks and I would advise against it.”
But still the cosmetic surgery tourists come to Istanbul, driven by low self-esteem. The basic procedure costs £20,000 before add-ons. A full package including a four-day stay at the hospital and a three month hotel stay as well as the necessary regular physio sessions costs up to £8,000 extra.
Dr Oc started conducting leg lengthening for cosmetic reasons four years ago and has now carried it out on 270, mainly men, who wanted longer legs and 12, mainly women, who wanted shorter legs. He said: “The maximum I have done is 18cm including lengthening lower leg and upper leg. I advise maximum 15cm. The average [increase] for my surgeries is 8cm.
“If the patient is more than 50 years old I advise maximum 6cm. If the patient’s [bone] elasticity is good they go for 10cm. Every patient is different.”
Newer forms of the operation separate the segments of bone without the need for an external frame but cost around twice the price. These separate the bone segments using either a remote motor or magnet system.
The Mirror questioned Dr Oc on the high risks of leg-lengthening operations and the surgeon insisted he was up front with his patients about potential complications.
He insisted that none of his patients have experienced broken bones after the operation and if X-rays taken every six weeks suggest new bone mass is not growing in the gap, patients are brought back in for further surgery.
He told us nerves being stretched could cause pain and a feeling of burning or itching. He said blood clots were also a risk they guard against with blood thinning drugs during the period after surgery when patients cannot move their legs.
Dr Oc said: “We explain everything. I say ‘you can search the operation on Google or AI’ I say ‘go and read this then come back and we’ll talk.”
