Man spends Rs 22 lakh to become 5 inches taller. 'Now I feel like a real adult'

Ibrahim Alğan from southern Turkey never forgot about the time his first girlfriend told him she wished he was taller. At five foot two inches tall, the 30-year-old school counselor said his colleagues made jokes about his height at least once a week. Alğan also felt tall people around him were more popular and had more opportunities. And so, he decided to become taller by getting leg-lengthening surgeries.

"If you're shorter, people don't take you as seriously as a tall person," he told Insider. He said he felt he wasn't confident enough to help students at his school. "I strongly believe that charisma is one of the must-have features in leadership. When you're short, you start 1-0 down."

Alğan got his first surgery in February 2015 but kept it a secret. He grew taller by 2.4 inches and told anybody who noticed his change in height that he had a bone deformity and needed an operation to fix it. He got the second surgery in March 2020 that added another 2.4 inches to his height.

"My only goal — I might even call it my life purpose — was to get taller," Alğan told Insider adding that his life has changed "dramatically" since he gained in height.