Leg-lengthening surgery from ‘Materialists’ is real — here’s why patients drop thousands on the ‘Frankenstein’ procedure
The lovelorn sure will go to great lengths for a date.
In the new romantic drama “Materialists” starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, there’s conversation around what constitutes a so-called perfect man to date.
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Johnson’s matchmaker character, Lucy, describes Pascal’s statuesque character, Harry, as a “unicorn” — good-looking, rich and 6 feet tall.
At least, now he is.
Later on in the movie — small spoiler alert) — Lucy discovers Harry was 5-foot-6 before he underwent leg-lengthening surgery, leaving his legs full of scars.
Limb-lengthening is a procedure that gradually lengthens the bones in the arms or legs over the course of several months.
“What’s a couple inches?” Lucy says to a client, shining a light on the superficial aspect of judging a person by their height.
The surgery involves breaking the femur and/or tibia, inserting rods, and turning the rods by up to 1 millimeter per day as new bone fills in the gap, according to the International Center for Limb Lengthening.
The surgery can add up to six inches in height, though most patients gain two to three inches, which is the recommended lengthening.
Because it’s considered cosmetic surgery, it’s not typically covered by health insurance, other than in rare circumstances — and it’ll cost a pretty penny.
In the U.S., bilateral femoral lengthening can sometimes cost more than $120,000, while tibia and femoral lengthening combined can cost in excess of $250,000 with some providers, according to Dr. Shahab Mahboubian, D.O., MPH.
Of course, it’s cheaper abroad, so some American men might travel abroad to places like Turkey to get the procedure — similar to the trend of traveling for hair transplants.
But is this seemingly bizarre surgery really a thing that people desire to do — and why?
In 2019, just a few hundred limb-lengthening surgeries were conducted, according to the BBC — but the painful process is gaining popularity, and so is online talk about it, mostly out of curiosity.
Dr. Dror Paley, founder of the Paley Orthopedic & Spine Institute’s Stature Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, told Yahoo that most of his surgeries are done to correct physical imbalances, but on average, he performs about 100 surgeries per year on patients who simply want to get taller.
“It’s very odd for us to treat patients for cosmetic reasons,” Paley said. “It took a long time to figure out what the plastic surgeons knew all along: that they were treating body image issues.”
“Short men aren’t respected, even tall men sh-t on us, we struggle finding employment, and barely get promoted,” an anonymous man, who is 25 and 5-foot-6, told Bustle.
But the consensus for why men go through the painful surgery echoes the reasoning Harry in “Materialists” had — it’s for women.
“It changed our lives with women completely, of course. Women just approach us and talk to us now, which never happened before,” Harry said in the movie after getting the surgery with his brother. “I haven’t struck out since. But you can also tell the difference at work, and at restaurants, and airports. You’re just worth more.”
Turns out, non-movie characters agree.
“All my life I struggled with viewing myself as a small person and no matter what I did to change it I always felt the same,” Dynzell Sigers, previously told The Post, sharing that he spent $81,000 on a leg augmentation in 2023 to become 6 feet tall. “Limb lengthening gave me the opportunity to change my life and the way I perceive life as a whole.”
“The only reason why anyone would do leg lengthening — a life-altering surgery — is for women,” another anonymous person, 17 and 5-foot-8, told Bustle.
“The fantasy of reinvention to find love is very, very real,” Sean, 33 and 5-foot-5, told the outlet.
“It’d be a calculated Hail Mary, a last-ditch effort to get seen — literally — by a world that unfortunately says height equals desirability,” Sean said, adding that he would do the surgery if it were free, considering it’s “9,000 times” his rent.
However, many short kings aren’t ashamed of their height and don’t buy into the idea that being taller makes it easier to find love.
“I’m living proof that finding love is possible,” Mike LeGrand, a 5-foot-3 TIkTok content creator, shared with Bustle. “You don’t need to be tall. You need to be secure with who you are.”
“If you chase validation, it won’t stop with surgery — there will always be something else to fix.”
However, it’s not just men who undergo the “Frankenstein” procedure to get taller and feel more appealing to love interests.
Last year, model Theresia Fischer paid more than $162,000 on leg-lengthening surgeries to become more attractive to her now ex-husband.
The reality star from Hamburg, Germany, was formerly 5-foot-5 before adding 5½ inches to her height.
Another downside is the recovery process and potential side effects.
According to a TikTok posted by Beverly Hills-based plastic surgeon Dr. Daniel Barrett, side effects may include infection, scarring and nerve damage.
The Cleveland Clinic added some risks and complications, such as bones not hardening properly or reaching the desired length, muscle damage, and stiffness in the joints or muscles.
And while the initial in-hospital recovery would take about three days, full recovery from limb-lengthening surgery takes several months.
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