A man who paid thousands to become nine inches taller has revealed the brutal impact the agonising surgeries had on his body.
Leon Otremba, from Germany, who stood at 171.5cm tall (5 foot 6 inches) underwent two leg lengthening surgeries two years apart to reach 195cm (6 foot 3 inches).
The excruciating and expensive cosmetic procedure involves breaking the legs, implanting magnetic rods, and slowly stretching them out over several months.
But Mr Otremba, who claims he is now the world record holder in leg lengthening, has said it was ‘life changing’ and ‘completely worth it’.
His former height had made him feel emasculated and triggered issues with body image, the 23-year-old said.
Now, in a series of videos posted to his social media channels, seen tens of millions of times, he has shown exactly what his recovery from the controversial surgeries entailed.
In 2023, his first surgery on his thighbone increased his height by four inches, by using the Lengthening Over Nail (LON) method—when an internal nail is placed inside the bone, which is attached to metal frames, called external fixators.
These fixators sit outside the leg and are held in place by metal pins that go through the skin and into the bone.
Leon Otremba, from Germany , who stood at 171.5cm tall (5 foot 6 inches) underwent two leg lengthening surgeries two years apart to reach 195cm (6 foot 3 inches)
The excruciating and expensive cosmetic procedure involves breaking the legs, implanting magnetic rods, and slowly stretching them out over several months. Pictured, an x-ray of his thighbone after the first surgery
They have rods and screws that can be adjusted to move the bone gradually, resulting in a longer bone.
But it requires at least four to five months of recovery before returning to daily activities, leaving patients in wheelchairs initially before moving to crutches.
The area around the fixators must be cleaned and dressed daily to prevent any infection.
‘For me the hardest thing was feeling so sensitive to everything. I just wanted the days to move quickly so the pain would decrease. I just wanted to do nothing,’ Mr Otrema said in on YouTube video.
‘You feel under pressure, you cannot enjoy the moment because you are so sensitive to pain.
‘I was only sleeping three or four hours per night. For one or two nights that’s fine but this was months. You get crazy, I just wanted one day of eight hours sleep.
‘After two, three hours you will wake up.
‘But no matter what the pain is, I knew I was going to reach my goal, no matter what. If you don’t have this mentality, don’t do it.’
Now, in a series of videos posted to his social media channels, seen tens of millions of times, he has shown exactly what his recovery from the controversial surgeries entailed
His second operation earlier this year, involved lengthening his tibia—shinbone—using the Betzbone intramedullary method.
This technique involves implanting a metal weight-bearing nail that has a mechanical click system.
Patients then manually increase the nail length by clicking their feet and legs. The modern method requires less recovery time and no external fixators.
But the procedure, still left him requiring crutches and months of physiotherapy afterwards.
In a video posted directly after the surgery, he said: ‘One hour after surgery and the only pain I feel is in my knees and ankles.
‘From one to 10, it’s a three. It’s manageable.’
A day later he said: ‘My legs are swollen. I have to do some exercises, pull up the feet to myself five times an hour.
In a different TikTok videeo, he added: ‘In 2023 I felt too short, I was depressed because of my height.
Nails are drilled into either end of each femur or tibia, which is slowly teased apart with magnets over weeks while it heals naturally, resulting in a longer bone. But it can leave patients in agony and wheelchair-bound during the process, with months of physiotherapy needed afterwards
‘After surgery, I was afraid I would never be able to walk or run normally again. I trained a lot and realised it works. I just takes a lot of time.
‘I was very surprised because this time I had no pain.
‘Foot outward then inwards. That’s how the nail rotates inside the bone and lengthens it.
‘It’s tough but that’s the price I pay to be 20.5cm taller for a lifetime.’
Official data is not kept on how many leg-lengthening procedures are carried out across the world.
But clinics have reported that leg-lengthening surgeries have seen a boom in recent years, with some plastic surgeons estimating it has doubled.
Such is the demand for the treatment, that thousands of men have taken to social media forums to discuss their experience, offer advice to others contemplating the operation.
‘I’m currently just over 5 foot 7 inches and I’ve been seriously considering height lengthening surgery,’ one said in a Reddit thread with over 2,000 members.
Yefersen Cossio, 29, said he was left in excruciating pain after paying to raise his height from 5ft 8in to 6ft. The operation cost about $175,000
‘The average height in my country is around 180 cm, so I often feel short compared to most people around me.’
Another wrote: ‘I had it done around a year ago and have had the best year of my life since then.
‘I feel like an actual young man now, my stocky appearance was replaced by a more proportionate, lithe and beautiful one.’
A third, added: ‘All my family stands at 185cm plus, but my mom is like 160cm and I am 100 per cent her build which made me a bit shorter.
My fiancée is 170cm plus and I sometimes feel like being not enough.’
The surgery has come a long way since it was first developed in the early 1950s as a means of treating injuries to soldiers by Soviet doctor Gavriil Ilizarov.
It used external, round frames that were drilled into the bone, which could extend and straighten the legs.
The process works in a similar way to the internal magnet technique, except the telescopic rods are outside the body and can be extended by turning the screws manually.
Mr Cossio is pictured above during the leg lengthening surgery, where doctors first broke his leg bones before implanting devices that would cause the bones to gradually lengthen
Nonetheless, like any surgery, the new process is not without complications.
Joint dislocation, blood clots and a fatal condition caused by oil coming out the rod ends ending up in the lungs are just some of the many potential risks.
Hamish Simpson, a surgeon and professor of orthopaedics and trauma at the University of Edinburgh, does not offer cosmetic lengthening, but increasingly gets inquiries from shorter men and estimates that the risk of complications are twice that of routine procedures like knee replacements.
He told The Guardian: ‘I nearly always try to talk them out of it.’
Leg lengthening patients—including a Colombian influencer who grew from 5ft 8in to 6ft—have also described being left in excruciating pain.
Yeferson Cossio, 29, had the surgery in 2023, but said it left him in so much pain he felt like he would collapse and was desperate to take the rods out.
The pain was so excruciating that it is ‘constantly interrupting’ his sleep, now only sleeping for ‘around two hours [every night], maximum’, he said.
Some men claim to have had the surgery to improve their success in online dating.
While some men believe it will make them more attractive, others do it in the hope to look like their childhood heroes.
‘I want to be the tallest man alive. Short girls want tall men. Tall girls want tall men,’ Mr Otremba said in another TikTok video.
‘Before height surgery at 171cm I was called short. Today I’m taller than an elevator.’
Some research has suggested a man’s height can impact his mental health and even job prospects or chance of promotion.
One Swedish study involving more than 1.3million men, found CEOs tended to be taller on average.
While the average man in the sample stood at five foot, 10.5 inches, male CEOs were six foot on average.
Another, published in the journal the BMJ, found men with the genes that will likely lead them to be tall, have around £2,940 (about $3,990) higher annual household income.
A third US study even showed that for every inch below 5 feet 10 inches tall, a man has to earn $30,000 more to be seen as equally appealing to women in the dating market.
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