The pandemic has affected many of our habits and behaviors, but perhaps one of the most curious in times of zoom is that walking through a cosmetic surgeon’s operating room is nothing more than adding a few centimeters to height. That’s what many engineers in Silicon Valley have done.

Prepare to return to the office.
Business centers have had different rhythms in getting their employees back to work. From those who cannot find the opportunity to work from home because their job characteristics prevent this, to those who continue to work in pajama bottoms today.

But if we save these two extremes, perhaps many are surprised to see that their comrades have changed a little. More than one person in Silicon Valley seems to have returned to the office a few centimeters taller: Such surgeries have increased significantly during the pandemic, or so it is, according to Kevin Debiparshad, a surgeon operating in the US state of Nevada. One of the most common profiles among their clients is definitely an engineer from ‘big tech’.

An extension of the femur.
The process is simple on paper, but powerful: It requires breaking the two thighbones of the involved party. During the operation, a metal structure is placed on the bone and nailed. After this process, the nails move away at a rate of one millimeter per day thanks to the magnetic control system.

This phase lasts three months. The bone renews itself by filling the gap created by the rupture and displacement of the ends of the bone. The process may take a few more months before the patient’s new bone is completely solidified.

Not everything is an advantage.
The long recovery time may be the first inconvenience, but wanting to gain a few centimeters must also take into account another ailment. The first is that the result can be a little strange. All height is gained in the legs, so the proportions of the body change.

The process is painful, not only affecting the bones but also requiring nerves and muscles to adapt to the new length. This pain can be severe. Debiparshad also warns that it can lead to loss of agility. Therefore, it may not be a great idea for someone who is missing a few inches from the basketball team.

Somewhat affordable.
And of course the price. The procedure can range from $70,000 to $150,000, depending on how many centimeters the patient wants to add. The range is between 7.6 and 15.2 centimeters. Operations to reach these more than 15 centimeters also affect the shinbone of the patients.

Some financial institutions have gotten the job done and offer installments of around $1,200 per month, but overall prices are quite limiting to the profile of clients (wide within this limitation).

Men’s business.
Lengthening operations are especially (if not exclusively) sought after by men. The stigma of plastic surgery is receding and more prominently in men. According to the Spanish Society of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, only 16.6% of the approximately 400,000 cosmetic surgeries performed each year in Spain are performed on male patients.

Silicon Valley seemed to have already absorbed this trend for cosmetic surgery in the times before the pandemic, but on that occasion the news made references to minor interventions like laser treatments or classic Botox.

However, the stigma cannot be said to have disappeared: in the case of lengthening surgery, at least most prefer to hide the surgery, at least outside of their narrowest circles. In any case, the aesthetic stigma seems to apply to many.

Two faces of aesthetics.
Like many other aesthetic operations, the origin of this intervention is based on reconstructive surgery. Gavriil Ilizarov was a Soviet doctor who, in 1951, developed a system for applying bone lengthening (bone lengthening) to the legs.

The goal was to treat trauma, congenital leg length discrepancies, and other possible disorders, but today we also have a few inches of extension between uses.

At first glance, the Ilizarov apparatus has little to do with its modern version. In its older version, the mechanism consisted of a scaffold-like structure surrounding the limb. The system applied to the thighbone in aesthetic operations is much less cumbersome, it can only be seen with x-rays.

Image | anna shvets