A man borrowed $75,000 for leg-lengthening surgery to make him 3 inches taller, report says

• A man who borrowed $75,000 for surgery faces monthly $1,200 payments for the next five years.
• John Lovedale told GQ that "the world seems to bend" for taller men.

A man who borrowed $75,000 for leg-lengthening surgery that made him 3 inches taller will spend $1,200 a month on repayments for the next five years, GQ magazine reported.

John Lovedale, in his mid-40s, explained why he went through the painful, months-long surgery. "I noticed that taller people just seem to have it easier. The world seems to bend for them," he said.

He decided to take the opportunity to become 3 inches taller when he heard about the procedure. Before doing so he was about 5 feet 8.5 inches tall, slightly less than the average height of 5 feet 9 inches.

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Lovedale took a loan from the online bank SoFi to pay for the surgery, which costs between $70,000 and $150,000, depending on whether the patient wants to grow by 3, 4, 5, or 6 inches, GQ reported.

The network engineer will now spend $1,200 in repayments for the next five years, but has no regrets, the magazine reported. "People just look at you differently when you're tall. I already get a lot more looks at the gym," Lovedale said.

He first heard about the leg-lengthening procedure performed by Kevin Debiparshad on Facebook.

Debiparshad is one of only a handful of surgeons in North America who perform cosmetic leg lengthening. He founded LimbplastX Institute near Las Vegas in 2016, and the clinic's business boomed during the pandemic, Debiparshad told GQ.

Cosmetic leg lengthening was originally intended to help patients with real conditions, but it is now becoming a more common cosmetic surgery.

The procedure itself sounds excruciating. The doctor breaks the patient's femurs, or thigh bones, and inserts adjustable metal nails into them. GQ reported that the nails are extended slightly every day for three months with a magnetic remote control.

It can take months to slowly lengthen the bones and for the legs to heal. Debiparshad told GQ: "There's a mental discipline that you have to have. It's like training for the marathon."

The doctor revealed that many of his patients are tech workers from big firms like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta.

Despite the stigma surrounding cosmetic surgery, it appears to become increasingly common for men. The Washington Post reported in January 2020 that men were turning to all kinds of cosmetic procedures in an effort to get ahead in their careers.