Alex, a 26-year-old man who prefers not to disclose his real name, underwent a leg-lengthening surgery in January 2022 to increase his height from around 5'6" to 5'10". According to Alex, shorter men are often spoken down to and insulted because of their height, and he was tired of being made fun of. He wanted to be in a place where no one would comment on his height, so he decided to undergo the surgery.

Leg-lengthening surgery is an intense and expensive process, but it has become more popular and accepted in the last five years. The surgery involves cutting the thigh bones in each leg and inserting rods inside them, which are lengthened by up to 1 millimeter per day via an external remote control over the next three to four months. New bone grows over the rods, and physical therapy is required for four months following the surgery. Alex went four to five times per week for therapy and used a walker for mobility. As he regained his mobility, he switched to using a cane.

The final step of the process involves removing the rods, and Alex returned for that hour-long procedure a year after the first operation, which his insurance covered. In total, Alex estimated that the whole process cost him $100,000.

Dr. Shahab Mahboubian, a surgeon at the Height Lengthening Institute in Burbank, California, who performed Alex's operations, said that he expects to perform 50 stature-lengthening operations this year, more than double the 20 he did three years ago. However, Dr. S. Robert Rozbruch, chief of the limb lengthening and complex reconstruction service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, said that he performs only a small share of the operations aimed at increasing a patient's height, and those cases usually involve short stature dysphoria, a deep dissatisfaction with one's height.

According to Dr. David Frederick, an associate professor of psychology at Chapman University in Southern California, shorter men are less likely to be satisfied with their height than taller men. A 2006 study found that just 26% of shorter men were satisfied with their height, while 87% of tall men were happy with their height.

Although leg-lengthening surgery comes with risks, including nerve injury and a loss of range of motion, the procedure is safe as long as it's done by experienced surgeons. However, Alex is wary of recommending the surgery to others, as he believes that the societal pressures to be taller are the problem. He doesn't want shorter men to feel the need to undergo the surgery to fit into society's standards.