Minnesota man spends over $170,000 on leg-lengthening surgeries to boost his dating prospects

A man from Minnesota has spent over $170,000 on two surgeries to lengthen his legs in order to be more attractive to women.

Moses Gibson, 41, had struggled to get a girlfriend due to his 5-foot-5-inch height. Gibson tried medication and even consulted a spiritual healer to increase his height. However, when these methods failed to work, he decided to undergo a leg-lengthening surgery.

“I just didn’t feel good about myself,” Gibson told Kennedy News and Media. “I was unhappy about it most of the time… It affected my dating life. I used to put things in my shoes to gain a little bit of height, but it wasn’t very much.”

Gibson saved $75,000 for the first surgery and underwent the procedure in 2016, which added 3 inches to his height, taking him to 5-foot-8. “After the first procedure, I was happy with it to some extent, but it was always in my mind that I wanted to do a second one to complete it,” Gibson said. In March of this year, he spent an additional $98,000 on a second surgery that he hopes will add another 2 inches to his height.

During the second surgery, doctors broke Gibson’s tibia and fibula bones and inserted magnetic, limb-lengthening nails into them. He now uses a height-lengthening device three times a day to pull the cut bone apart a millimeter at a time. The device encourages his body to create new bone tissue, which will fill the gap and create a new height.

“I went in at 7:30 a.m. and by midday, they were waking me up out of the surgery,” Gibson said. “They give you powerful pain medication as there are times when it’s really painful and you have to work through it. You go home and you have a week or two for some healing to happen before you get the device to start lengthening.”

Gibson’s doctors predict that if he uses the height-lengthening device correctly, he will eventually be 5-foot-10. “I’ll be happy at 5-foot-10,” he said. “But if my body and everything else allows me to go 3 inches to get to 5-foot-11, then even better!”

Gibson stated that the surgeries have given him the confidence to talk to women and have even helped him to find a girlfriend.

“After the first surgery, I became less hesitant and less worried about the result when talking to women. I now have a girlfriend,” he said. “In my mind, when I’m done with this part I can just be free… I just won’t care about my height anymore. I’ll be satisfied with what I have.”

Despite the potential risks associated with leg-lengthening surgeries, Gibson says he has no regrets and encourages others to go for it if they want to. “I’d advise anybody who wants this to go for it — it’s definitely worth it,” he said.

While Gibson has no regrets about his surgeries, leg-lengthening surgeries are not always recommended, according to the British National Health Service. The operation can result in poor bone formation, bone lengthening at an inappropriate rate, fractures, blood clots, and infection.