Elaine has suffered excruciating pain after her leg-lengthening surgery
Warning: This article contains medical details that readers may find distressing
Elaine Foo’s legs are streaked with thick, purple scars – each one a reminder of a leg-lengthening procedure which went badly wrong.
Since 2016, the 49-year-old has had five surgeries and three bone grafts, exhausted her life savings and brought a legal action against her surgeon, which was finally settled in July, with no admission of liability.
At one point, Elaine had a metal nail break through a bone and on another occasion, she says her legs felt like they were being “roasted from the inside”.
“My journey has been a trial of fire – but I survived,” she says.
Her doctor consistently denied any negligence and says that some of the issues arose from complications she had been warned of, and others arose through her own actions.
Elaine says having longer legs became an obsession, and believes she has body dysmorphia
Elaine always hated her height.
“At 12, I was taller than most girls,” she says. “By 14, I was suddenly shorter than everyone. Over time it became an obsession. Taller means better. Taller means more beautiful. I just felt that taller people had more chances.”
By adulthood the obsession was overwhelming.
Elaine believes she had body dysmorphia, a mental health condition where a person sees a flaw in their appearance no matter how others see them. The impact of the condition can be devastating.
At the age of 25, Elaine came across an article about a Chinese clinic where people were having surgery to make their leg bones longer. The piece contained grisly details of medieval-looking leg cages and rampant infection. It sounded nightmarish but left Elaine intrigued.
“I know people will question the vanity of it,” she says. “But when you face body dysmorphia, there’s no rational explanation for why you feel so overwhelmingly bad.”
Sixteen years later, Elaine discovered a private clinic offering the procedure in London. It was being provided by the orthopaedic surgeon Jean-Marc Guichet, a limb-lengthening specialist who had even created his own lengthening device – the Guichet Nail.
“That was really a hallelujah moment, because I could do it in London and could recover at home,” she recalls.
“Dr Guichet was open about the kinds of things that could go wrong. Nerve injuries, blood clots, the possibility of bones not fusing back together.
“But I’d done my research, was going to a very expensive doctor and I expected commensurate medical care. My dream was to grow from 5ft 2in (1.57m) to 5ft 5in (1.65m).”
On 25 July, at a cost of around £50,000, she went in for surgery and set in motion a process which would change her life.
Leg-lengthening procedures are relatively uncommon, but available at private clinics around the world. Depending on where it’s carried out, it can cost anything from £15,000 to upwards of £150,000.
Elaine says she initially felt no pain after the operation