1mm A Day
Isolated in a generic hotel room, amongst the drab grey of Istanbul’s sprawling concrete suburbs, 19 year old Japanese man Yuto’s (159.5 cm to 168 cm) days are split between his room, and the physiotherapy sessions in the hotel’s basement, for three long months, day in, day out. He studies online, plays games on his phone, and watches TV.
He’s wheelchair bound, his legs have been broken, metal rods inserted. He needs to find his Allen key to stretch his thighs by turning a bolt system every six hours. It might sound like a terrible accident, but it’s all voluntary and rather expensive. Welcome to the world of limb lengthening, stretching your legs slowly and gradually, eking out about 1 mm of extra height gain a day.
Masculinity is a fluid concept, a social-historical idea of what it means to be a male, but one definite that has remained fundamentally associated, is height and stature.
Over the past decade, Turkey has slowly transformed into a popular destination for those wanting cosmetic surgery. From the infamous ‘Turkey teeth’, to hair transplants, liposuction, or a BBL, they offer it all, and there’s a relatively new option on the menu, limb lengthening.
It can be seen as a mental health issue, as much as it can be as a physical transformation. Aside from those few doing the operation for medical reasons, the vast majority are coming for aesthetic purposes, bringing some respite from taunting and bullying, or preparing themselves for jobs that they believe lend themselves to being that little bit taller. In one clinic alone there have been over 700 patients since 2015, only four of which have come to be shortened, all women.
İbrahim Alğan Kurucu, (160 cm to 172 cm) the founder and CEO of ‘Wanna Be Taller’, the first of several commercial limb lengthening clinics opened in Turkey, notes that “many patients have jobs that give them positions of power; police officers, prosecutors, businessmen, politicians, and semi-pro athletes, but they still want to be taller”. Ibrahim himself had two rounds of limb lengthening, gaining a total of 12 cm between his upper (Femur) and lower (Tibia) leg extensions.
For between £25,000-£45,000 ($30,000-$55,000) and over three months spent in a wheelchair with your legs broken, patients need plenty of “Bravery, Time and Money” as Mr Kurucu puts it. The majority of Wanna Be Taller clinic’s patients are from overseas, with 55% from China alone, so translators and personal ‘caretakers’ are assigned to each patient.
Visiting the hotel is a surreal glimpse into this niche industry, where patients from Japan, North America, Western Europe, China, and Turkey are wheeling themselves in and out, and being massaged and cleaned. It feels like a secluded health spa, but without the health benefits. In fact, the risks and potential complications can be severe - nerve damage, paralysis, complex deformity, or worse.
Associate Professor Dr. Yunus Öç, the clinic’s surgeon, stresses that he only operates on those who won’t face risks or complications. “I’ve refused 30-40% of the patients that contact me, as I don’t believe they’re prepared physically or mentally. Patients need good post-op support for their bodies, as well as their minds, it’s a gruelling process.” After 7 years working on medical limb lengthening cases, for the past 2 years Dr. Öç has solely focused on cosmetic patients. He claims that from his over 150 leg lengthening surgeries, more than 90% had no complications or issues at all.
After 11-12 long months in recovery, patients can expect to walk unaided again, and with muscle weakness restored. Within two years the internal nails need to be removed. There remains a lot of stigma relating to this surgery, something which one of the few shortening patients, Althea (171 cm to 166 cm) from the Philippines, says she hopes will fade. “People always ask why, why, why?! I hope this attitude changes, and it becomes like a nose job. Nobody cares these days, but it used to be a scandal.”
As Ümit (168 cm to 174 cm) from Germany put it, “Us men are quite women driven, and we need to feel attractive, and height is an important part of that criteria to be honest.”