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41-years-old Moses Gibson resorted to excruciating height lengthening surgery to get taller – and has grown a whopping five inches taller.
Having felt insecure about his 5ft 5in stature, the Software Engineer said he first tried medications and even reached out to ‘spiritual healer’ in a bid to spring up.
Unfortunately, nothing worked. Despite, he decided painful surgery was his only option, which involved breaking multiple bones in his body.
He managed to add an extra three inches to his height in 2016 through surgery, but seven years later has undergone a second round and is using a height lengthening device.
Moses, who has spent a total $165,000 on the two surgeries [first $75,000, second $98,000], hopes to feel ‘free’ by reaching his goal height of 5ft 10in by June.
Gibson who is from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, said: “I’ve struggled with height, I don’t know whether ‘heightism’ is what they call it, but being on the shorter side for men “As far back as when I was probably like 15, I realised most of my peers were taller than me.
“It started getting to me gradually. I just didn’t feel good about myself, I was unhappy about it most of the time.
“It was my self-confidence in general, and with the ladies. 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.
“I was talking to some spiritual healer online by e-mail who promised they could heal any problem. I tried talking to them to see if they could help but they just said ‘it all just depends on if you believe it’.
“It was my self-confidence in general, and with the ladies. 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
“When I got to college, I came across this procedure on the internet and straight away knew it was what I wanted to go for.”
After working for three years as a software engineer during the day and as an Uber driver at night, he managed to save up $150,000 dollars for the surgery.
The ‘painful’ procedure last month broke Moses’ tibia and fibula bones and screwed magnetic, limb lengthening nails in them.
Moses now has to use a height lengthening device three times a day which pulls the cut bone apart a millimetre at a time.
This encourages his body to create new bone tissue, which will fill the gap until his desired height of 5ft 10in is achieved.
Moses said: “After the first procedure, I was happy with it to some extent, but it was always in my mind that I wanted to do the second one to complete it.
“I’m a high achiever, I’m a go-getter so after the first one I thought, with all the heightism, I’ve got the money and I can finish the journey.
“I spoke with the doctor and asked for three more inches. He said after the second surgery it’s a bit more challenging, so two inches will be more reasonable.
“So I’m looking to go to 5’10. I’ll be happy at 5’10. If my body and everything else allows me to go three inches [5’11] then even better.