Texas Man Undergoes Cosmetic Limb-Lengthening Surgery To Be 6 Foot 1

A man who always dreamed of being a basketball player had limb-lengthening surgery to make himself 6ft 1. 

Alfonso Flores, 28, from Dallas, Texas, has wanted to be taller ever since the age of 12 and finally underwent the surgery seven months ago to achieve his ideal height.

Previously 5ft 11, Alfonso is now 6ft 1, and was able to walk just 24 hours after his surgery.

Check it out:

To achieve his new height, Alfonso’s legs were broken in two places and a state-of-the-art telescopic rod was implanted into the cartilage of the bone. The device was then pulled apart gradually so that it slowly separated the two bone segments.

New living bone then grew to fill the gap created, increasing the overall length of the limb.

While Alfonso hasn’t pursued a sporting career following his surgery last year, the freelance writer and pre-med student is happy that he’s now as tall as some of his basketball heroes.

Discussing the matter, he said to the Mail Online, ‘I know 5’11’ is a great height, and many people would love to be that tall, but I wanted just a little more than that. This is something that I’ve really wanted to do as far as I can remember – since I was 12.’

He continued:

I decided to go for 6’1 because I started off at a great height and wanted to retain as much of my athletic ability and range of motion as possible. […] I really wanted to be more like my heroes. All of my heroes were super tall. Particularly people like Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, and of course my father.

Alfonso’s surgery was conducted by Harvard-trained orthopaedic surgeon Dr Kevin Debiparshad at the The LimbplastX Institute in Las Vegas. The 28-year-old said that Dr Debiparshad was ‘great to work with’.

He explained, ‘Once I discovered The LimbplastX Institute, I scheduled my consultation with Dr Debiparshad, set an appointment to have the surgery, and within three weeks, I was in the hospital being rolled into the operating room. This is has been something that I have wanted for a long time and it feels great to say that I have finally achieved it.’

In terms of walking, Alfonso described his pain as being ‘4/10’ the following day, adding that he ‘wasn’t in as much pain as [he] thought [he] would be’.

To anyone else considering having the unique surgery, Alfonso said, ‘As long as you’re taking care of yourself, taking it slow, and being careful with your limbs after the surgery, you should be in really great shape.’

After reading what the surgery entails, I think I’ll stick to being 5ft 3, thanks.

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