While the internet's full of false promises to make people taller, only one technique can deliver the goods: limb lengthening. For some, the benefits of a few extra inches are worth the expense and pain of breaking bones and slowly teasing them apart to build height. And for them, the Make Me Taller forums have become a mecca. Betterhumans Editor and limb-lengthening contemplator Simon Smith spoke with the site's anonymous founder, a wealthy Brit known as MMT who has had one procedure in China and plans another soon.

BH: When most people think about leg lengthening, they likely think about a procedure for dwarfism that's often practiced in China on those without the condition. Yet you're relatively tall-taller than 90% of the Chinese population, as I understand it-and live in the UK. How is it that you find yourself such a champion of the procedure?  

MMT: Although the techniques and the technology used in leg lengthening (LL) have been developed over many decades for treating medical conditions and dwarfism, the collapse of Communism meant skilled surgeons in places like China and Russia found themselves with a valuable commodity-the ability to make people taller.

Fortunately, this coincided with a huge increase in cosmetic surgery in the West, and many of those surgeons soon realized that they could offer "height increase" services on a purely cosmetic basis.

The clinic where was I treated in Beijing has done over 1,500 cosmetic leg lengthening procedures, and the clinics in Russia and the former Soviet Union have probably done a similar number. If these doctors and clinics were still tightly regulated under Communist regimes, I'm certain that their services wouldn't be available to us in the West.

How I became a "champion" of leg lengthening is an interesting story. I'm a pretty uncompromising person who likes to win and likes to be the best. I've had a great education, a fantastic career that has made me a millionaire, and a wonderful lifestyle, but my height was just "average" and I found that unacceptable.

I hadn't heard of anyone who had considered or undergone LL with motivations similar to mine, and so I started "Make Me Taller" as a forum for my views and my story, and quickly discovered that there are hundreds-if not thousands-of people who, like me, want to be taller, even though they aren't short.

When undergoing my treatment, I met actors and models who needed a few extra inches for their careers, and even a glamorous grandmother who just wanted to be taller and slimmer so that she could enjoy the rest of her life.

My forum was the first place where such people could come to together to discuss the doctors, the procedures, risks, their thoughts and all manner of things related to LL. We have over 1,100 members now, and get about 25,000 unique visitors per month, which gives an indication of how much interest there is in it.

My adventure started about three months after I discovered that it was even possible. I jumped on a plane to Beijing, had my operation two days later and five months later I was 180 centimeters tall instead 173.5!

BH: You've undergone one leg-lengthening procedure and are now, as I understand it, contemplating another. Some criticize the cost, pain and recovery time associated with leg-lengthening surgery. Have you found, after your first surgery, that the benefits outweigh those issues?

MMT: I think that a lot of people imagine that LL will be considerably more painful and inconvenient than it is. Don't get me wrong-some people find it quite painful, but I was one of the lucky ones who had very little pain and the end result certainly outweighs the temporary discomfort.

Even if it had been more painful, I wouldn't have had any regrets-becoming taller has had an amazing impact on my life.

It's something that only a person who has undergone LL can understand, but when I shake hands with someone that used to be taller than me, and find myself looking down at them, it makes me feel great-as shallow as that is. It's a buzz that hasn't worn off yet, even though I've been back home in England for several months.

I'm going back for a second operation for two main reasons:

1) My first one (external with the Ilizarov frame) went so well, I have very few fears about the second;

2) A lot of our forum members wanted someone they could trust to undergo internal LL with [limb-lengthening surgeon] Dr. Mitkovic so that they could decide whether or not they wanted to do it. In this respect, I'll be something of a guinea-pig, but I will also be able to give doctors and potential patients an interesting insight into how the two different methods compare.

Of course, I am also looking forward to being a couple of inches taller too-my second operation will make me just under 6'1," which I would never have dreamed possible even a year ago.

BH: The internet is now full of advertisements and websites touting mostly useless height-increasing interventions, and the Make Me Taller forums have seen an explosion in membership and media interest over the past year. To what do you credit the growing interest in height enhancement?

MMT: I think that the growth in interest in height enhancement is a sad reflection of how shallow our modern societies have become. Undoubtedly, our physical appearance is of immense importance when it comes to our careers, love lives and even friendships-and height is an important factor.

There is a wealth of research available that supports the view that taller men are more attractive to the opposite sex, and to potential employers, and my personal experiences have shown me that being even a couple of inches taller can have a profound and positive impact on the way that others perceive you.

That said-and this may seem strange coming from a "champion" for LL-I think that it is a shame that our societies place so much of an emphasis on physical appearance, particularly when it comes to important decisions. For example, it's pretty insane that Americans seem to be more likely to choose their leader based on a candidate's height than on their policies!

BH: Ethically, some might argue that height is a positional good, because if everyone got taller nobody would have an advantage. How might you counter such arguments to uphold the value of height enhancement?

MMT: I don't dispute that if everyone got taller that the value of height enhancement would be diminished. However, demand far outstrips supply and we've seen the doctors increasing their prices significantly over the last 12 months, with further increases forecast.

Some countries have even outlawed the procedure, and there are only a handful of doctors in the world who have the experience and the facilities to do it safely. As such, this will never be mainstream-it will remain for a privileged few who are wealthy enough, brave enough or just plain stupid enough to do it!

To help illustrate that, we have over 1,100 members, most of whom are pretty active. However, of that audience, less than 32 have had or are in the process of having LL.

Some doctors have told me that for every 1,000 enquiries they receive, they only end up with one patient-not everyone can afford between $25,000 and $250,000 to have it done, and then to take six months to a year off work to recover.

BH: What do you foresee for the future of height-increasing interventions? Do you anticipate that biotechnology or more advanced surgery will make current procedures obsolete? Are you aware of any research in this area?

MMT: I know that there is a lot of interest in biomedical and noninvasive solutions to height increase from people who would like to be taller, and I've even asked been to get involved in some of those initiatives myself. However, I don't believe that there is a large enough market to justify the kind of investment that would be required to make them viable, assuming that it was even possible.

I do not believe that there will ever be a biomedical solution to height increase.

For example, the Achilles tendon can withstand forces up to 64 times the weight of the average human body-some people have talked about new technologies that can grow bone, but I think it would be physically impossible to grow bone without the soft tissues (muscles, blood vessels, nerves, tendons) being grown and stretched in some way too. How this could be achieved without some mechanical involvement, I don't see. Even with three kilograms of steel wrapped around your leg and with pins inside the bone, the doctors need to monitor carefully how the bone is growing to prevent alignment problems.

Currently, there are no serious pieces of research under way, although some scientists are considering putting together research proposals. At best, I imagine that such solutions are at least 25 years off-assuming that we see them ever.

As far as the existing techniques are concerned, I expect there to be improvements in pain-management, infection prevention and scar recovery, but the technology is already nearly 50 years old and hasn't changed very much.

BH: If you had a child that was shorter than average, would you encourage or allow him or her to have height-increasing surgery?

MMT: I would never encourage anyone to consider LL. However, if I had a child who was determined to do it, then they would have my full support to ensure that they did it in the safest way possible. I know how strong the desire to be taller can be, and I wouldn't stand in the way of anyone who found themselves driven by the burning desire to be taller.

BH: If you believe in the procedure and in promoting its use, why do you request anonymity in your forums and in media interviews? 

MMT: I insist on anonymity on the basis that pretty much all of our members acknowledge know that with this, and many other forms of cosmetic surgery, there is still a considerable stigma attached!