Tall women are now turning to a painful treatment that promises to change their fortunes—if they’re willing to pay thousands of pounds.

Surgeons in Turkey are offering life-changing cosmetic surgery that can reduce their height by over five centimetres.

Some women assert that they’ve chosen this procedure to enhance their dating prospects, as they feel disadvantaged by their tall stature. Others mention the desire to even out differences in leg lengths.

The practice involves cutting the leg bone to remove part of the femur. 

The procedure involves cutting the bones, which are then aligned and stabilized with a metal rod that is removed once healing is complete. Clinics assert that this method leaves no visible scarring.

But the procedure can leave patients in agony and wheelchair-bound following the process, with months of physiotherapy needed afterwards. 

Despite concerns, this procedure is gaining traction, with some Turkish clinics offering comprehensive packages that include city tours, restaurant visits, and boat trips alongside the surgery and hospital stay.

Similar to leg lengthening surgeries often pursued by men, there is no official record on the global frequency of leg shortening operations.

In July 2024, an unnamed American woman underwent the surgery at the Height Reduction clinic in Istanbul, decreasing her height by 4.1 cm, going from 172 cm to 167.9 cm.

Four weeks after the surgery, she was able to use crutches and undertook intensive physiotherapy, Height Reduction said

One clinic, based in Istanbul, told the Daily Mail they had now done 10 leg shortening surgeries since 2023.  

Named Height Reduction, it claimed the upper leg could be shortened by up to 5.5cm and lower leg, by up to 3cm. 

The clinic advises women to wait at least six months between surgeries if they wish to further reduce their height, allowing sufficient time for the body to recuperate.

Following surgery, hospitalisation is required for roughly three to five days on average before being discharged given a wheelchair or walker to assist for the first month.

The clinic estimates that walking without any assistance is typically achievable after six weeks, with bones taking around three to four months to heal properly. 

Physiotherapy is vital to recovery with at least four or five sessions per week in the first three months. 

Before surgery, the clinic requires patients to undertake psychological counselling to ensure they have ‘realistic expectations of the outcome’. 

They added: ‘Patients may experience psychological challenges during their recovery, which is why we provide this support.’ 

Another Height Reduction patient underwent the procedure and took almost five centimetres off her height

One unidentified American woman undertook the procedure at the clinic in July 2024, reducing her height by 4.1cm from 172 to 167.9cm, they claimed. 

Four weeks after the surgery, she was able to use crutches and undertook intensive physiotherapy, Height Reduction said. 

Nonetheless, like any surgery, the new procedure is not without its complications.

Leg shortening surgery risks can include muscle weakness or muscle strength loss.

Delayed bone healing can also cause greater pain. 

Known leg lengthening side effects, meanwhile, include joint dislocation, blood clots and a fatal condition caused by oil coming out the rod ends ending up in the lungs are just some of the many potential risks. 

Surgeons have long estimated that the risk of complications of leg lengthening—a similar procedure to shortening—are twice that of routine procedures like knee replacements. 

Weight is an important factor for leg shortening operations, Height Reducation note, as the nails inserted inside the bones have a weight capacity. 

In leg lengthening surgery, meanwhile, nails are drilled into either end of each femur or tibia, which is slowly teased apart with magnets over weeks while it heals naturally, resulting in a longer bone. But it can leave patients in agony and wheelchair-bound during the process, with months of physiotherapy needed afterwards

The clinic recommends their patients weigh 70 to 75kg maximum. 

Online people have taken to forums to explain why they want or have undertaken height shortening surgery, with some admitting it was due to dating. 

Dating surveys have also long suggested that men prefer to be with a woman who is slightly shorter than them, while women favour a taller man. 

Studies have also found that being tall or short can significantly affect your risk of developing serious conditions such as cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and endometriosis.

Most of the negative health effects associated with height come from being tall. 

One Swedish study in 2015 found that for every 4in increase in height above average, cancer risk increases by 18 per cent in women and 11 per cent in men. 

The researchers suggested that one possible reason is that taller people simply have more cells that could transform into cancer.

An alternative reason is that taller people are exposed to higher levels of growth hormones while young, and that these hormones could promote cancer development.

Another 2020 study, in the journal Annals of Human Biology suggested that being a tall woman brings a greater risk of endometriosis, a debilitating condition where womb-like tissue forms elsewhere in the body.

The condition may have been sparked by raised levels of the female hormone oestrogen in puberty, the researchers hypothesised.