Angelina Tran, a 33-year-old nurse from California, resorted to desperate measures to change her height from 5ft 1in to 5ft 4in. She underwent a drastic leg surgery in Turkey that cost her over $63,000 for 3 inches of height.
Despite her family and friends advising against the risky surgery, Tran used the money she had been saving up for a new car for the procedure instead.
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She had wanted it since she was a kid
The 33-year-old woman shared her story and what led her to the surgery, explaining that she had felt insecure about her height since she was a child.
“It was when I was 11 or 12 when I noticed I had stopped growing,” she said.
Tran didn’t feel good about her height
She continued, “Being Asian, I am genetically small, and when I moved from Vietnam to America aged 12, I was suddenly surrounded by tall women everywhere.”
“I went out and bought vitamins and medicines in the hope they would boost my height a bit, but of course they didn’t work,” Tran admitted.
Social media didn’t help either
“At home, everyone my age was around my height or just shorter, but living in the US, I was surrounded by people towering over me,” Tran explained the dilemma.
“It was the same on social media with endless photos of tall women with long legs. I wished I had their height. All I could do was wear the highest heels I could walk in,” she shared.
Even her cousin was taller than her
Tran even found her cousin of the same age taller than her.
“My cousin and I loved a bit of friendly competition. We were always joking who would go to the better college or have the better career. So, when I was 19 and saw her after a year apart, I noticed how much taller she was than me,” she shared.
The woman’s self-esteem took a hit
Tran explained that she felt more insecure afterward, saying, “It surprised me and affected my self-esteem. I was at the age where you start worrying about your appearance, so it became a bigger issue in my mind.”
This caused her to research leg lengthening surgery, which seemed scary to her, and she initially wasn’t going to do it.
The surgery lengthens the bone
A leg-lengthening surgery would involve cutting the bone to be lengthened and using external and internal devices to fix the bone in different places for gradual extension.
She only became reinterested in the surgery when she heard of a Vietnamese YouTuber who underwent it.
She explained her revived interest
Speaking about the YouTuber, Tran said, “I started following his progress, and it got me curious about having the operation again.”
“By this point I had been working as a nurse for eight years, dealing with orthopedic patients and working in the surgical unit, so the prospect of being operated on didn’t seem so scary anymore,” she shared.
The woman believed she could handle it
Being a nurse gave Tran the confidence, “I had experience preparing for surgery and dealing with patients post-surgery. I was sure I could handle it. Especially as there was newer and more advanced technology.”
She went to Istanbul, Turkey to get the operation.
Tran wanted the surgery for herself
“I didn’t even want to change my height to help me with dating or to find a partner, I just wanted to do it for me. I wanted to be happier and content with how I looked,” she explained adamantly.
The surgery went well
Tran paid double the regular price for an advanced procedure called The Precice 2 system, which left her with less scarring.
The recovery can take up to 12 months and needs a lot of work from her, but Tran is happy with the results now that she is 5ft 4in.
