HEIGHT OF VANITY
5’ 9’’ man using surgeries to hit 6’ 4’’
Hugo Ramirez, something of a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson lookalike, has high aspirations.
Ramirez, who underwent painful leg-lengthening surgery last year to shoot up from 5 feet 9 inches to over 6 feet tall, is already planning to go under the knife again to grow three more inches.
He is ready to throw down $80,000 on a second cosmetic procedure to reach 6 feet 4 although following the first surgery, he had to relearn how to walk.
Ramirez is reportedly eager to try out new technology rolled out by Dr. Kevin Debiparshad, who runs LimbplastX Institute in Las Vegas, and operates on patients from all over the world as the popularity of the leg-lengthening surgery continues to grow.
He was 5 feet 9, the average height for a man, when he first walked into the clinic in early 2023.
“When you’re [5-foot-9], you still have to fight to get to where you have to be at. I mean, I had to earn my respect. Guys who are six foot tall, I don’t even know how they get their positions in life. It’s probably because they’re tall,” the married Ramirez told KSNV-TV.
Had to lose weight
The surgery required numerous sacrifices to go the distance.
He had to lose a chunk of weight, slimming down from 215 pounds to 197 through a gastric sleeve procedure before the surgery. Afterward, he had to reteach himself how to walk.
“What hurt the worst was learning how to walk all over again, muscle atrophy,” Ramirez.
“That was the brutal part about the surgery was the muscle atrophy. It was the worst.”
Debiparshad has been in business for years, and can help stretch limbs by up to six inches.
In 2020, he said he used a “painful device” to get the job done.
Stretches incrementally
The device is inserted into the upper or lower leg and then the patient uses a remote control that triggers the device to stretch the bone incrementally.
Patients from South America, Europe, Canada and about a dozen states have flocked to Las Vegas in the past month to gain a few inches, the Harvard-trained physician noted.
Debiparshad told KSNV over the weekend there is new technology that could make recovery more seamless.
“There’s a fourth generation of the implant called precise max that has recently come out. It is a more fortified implant. It allows for increased weight-bearing capacity, so it will allow patients to actually be able to mobilize and walk right after surgery,” Debiparshad said.
Ramirez plans to take advantage of the new mechanism to grow another few inches in the coming months.
“I have everything. I don’t need anything else. But the height has always been something I’ve, I’ve always looked at the people that are taller than me,” Ramirez said. “I’ve always looked up to them.”