A man who had limb-lengthening surgery to make himself taller has revealed why he felt compelled to do it.
Hugo Ramirez is now around 6ft 1, but this wasn't always the case. In fact, up until last year, Ramirez was 5ft 9, which is actually the average height for men in the US.
But Ramirez, who lives between Texas, California and Florida, says he didn't want to be 'average' and when a friend suggested limb lengthening surgery, he started to seriously consider it.
The surgery involves breaking the bones of each leg, before inserting a telescopic rod.
Advert
It's typically used to adjust malformations such as a person having one leg longer than the other, or if a patient loses part of a limb in an accident.
For many, knowing that surgeons would need to break your legs is probably enough to put them off, but Ramirez has explained why he was adamant that he wanted to go ahead.
"When you're 5'9", you still have to fight to get to where you have to be at," he told News 3.
Advert
"I mean, I had to earn my respect. Guys who are six-foot tall, I don't even know how they get their positions in life. It's probably because they're tall.
"What hurt the worst was learning how to walk all over again, muscle atrophy. That was the brutal part about the surgery was the muscle atrophy. It was the worst."
One person who was very nervous about the surgery was Ramirez's wife, Oksana.
"It was breaking your legs. That was a big thing to me," she told Impact x Nightline.
Advert
"I said, 'Hugo, I don't know. I'm actually very scared.' Because…you never know what can happen, right?"
Although the surgery itself isn't new, a new technology is making patients' recovery easier.
"There's a fourth generation of the implant called precise max that has recently come out. It is a more fortified implant. It allows for increased weight-bearing capacity, so it will allow patients to actually be able to mobilize and walk right after surgery," said orthopaedic surgeon Dr Kevin Debiparshad.
Advert
And Ramirez isn't done yet, after revealing he is considering spending $80,000 on a second op to reach 6ft 4.
“I have everything. I don’t need anything else. But the height has always been something. I’ve always looked at the people that are taller than me,” he said. “I’ve always looked up to them.”
Topics: Health
Lucy Devine