How much pain are you willing to endure in order to grow, to increase in height? A medical procedure, which goes through the operating room, has become “popular” and “controversial”, the news network Univisión reported.

To find out what this surgery is all about, they interviewed Dr. Gabriel Cubillos, a plastic surgeon.

With these exercises you can stretch your legs after a tiring day at work

Operation to lengthen the legs

The procedure, they describe at the outset, is “painful, expensive and requires a long recovery”.

Cubillos, a plastic surgeon, explained to the Univisión audience that it is certainly a painful operation “because you have to break the bone, that is a targeted fracture. You can break the femur or the tibia and fibula.”

If the femur is broken, it can grow up to 8 centimeters, and if it is the tibia and fibula, up to 6 centimeters.

Gabriel Cubillos, plastic surgeon

“You can continue with both operations, first one and then the other. And it can reach 14 centimeters, but it hurts, it hurts a lot, “said the specialist.

Technology to use to grow the legs

There are several ways, braces, and devices available to stretch the bones.

“The technology is moving forward and there’s one for example that’s intraosseous, it’s inserted into the bone marrow canal of the bone and it gets longer because there are magnets that as the bone gets longer, the device lengthens the connection”.

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How much does the operation to lengthen the legs cost?

There is no standard rate. It’s between $75,000 and $350,000, Cubillos estimated, depending on how famous or how experienced the doctor is and the country where the surgery will be performed.

When asked at Univisión whether this procedure is reimbursed by insurance in the United States, he answers yes if there is a growth problem, for example in children where one leg is longer than the other.

But there are people who choose this surgery because of an aesthetic problem and to look taller.

That’s what recovery is

After four or six weeks of surgery, the patient can begin walking, with an outside companion, such as crutches or a walker.

“He has to do physical therapy. The idea is that after a month he will walk and start exercising,” he said.

Those who cannot request such surgery to grow, he moved up the information chain, are people with diabetes, hypertension or diseases in the immune system.