A man resorted to excruciating height lengthening surgery to get taller - and has grown a whopping five inches taller.
Having felt insecure about his 5ft 5in stature, Moses Gibson tried medications and even reached out to 'spiritual healer' in a bid to spring up.
With nothing working, the desperate 41-year-old decided painful surgery was his only option, which involved breaking multiple bones in his body.
He managed to add an extra three inches to his height in 2016 through surgery, but seven years later has undergone a second round and is using a height lengthening device.
Moses, who has spent a total $165,000 [approx £133,000] on the two surgeries [first $75,000, second $98,000], hopes to feel 'free' by reaching his goal height of 5ft 10in by June.
He struggled with 'heightism' in his dating life and constant jokes about him being 'short', but now he has a newfound confidence and has found himself a girlfriend.
Moses, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, said: "I've struggled with height, I don't know whether 'heightism' is what they call it, but being on the shorter side for men.
"Even when I was in high school, I was always unhappy with my height. "As far back as when I was probably like 15, I realised most of my peers were taller than me.
"It started getting to me gradually. "I just didn't feel good about myself, I was unhappy about it most of the time.
"I used to like clothes and shoes, but I started not feeling happy when I put them on and I wanted to look better.
"It was my self-confidence in general, and with the ladies. It affected my dating life. I used to put things in my shoes to gain a little bit of height, but it wasn't very much.
"People made comments. Sometimes it wasn't in a mean way or intending to hurt, but they'd say 'sh*t dude, you're short man' or make a joke of it.
"I'm a strong, tough guy, so I was never depressed about it but I went searching to see what I could do about it.
"I bought medication online that promised to make you the height you're looking for. I took it for a while before realising it was nonsense and stopped it.
"I was talking to some spiritual healer online by e-mail who promised they could heal any problem. I tried talking to them to see if they could help but they just said 'it all just depends on if you believe it'.
"When I got to college, I came across this procedure on the internet and straight away knew it was what I wanted to go for."
After working for three years as a software engineer during the day and as an Uber driver at night, the 'go-getter' managed to save up $150,000 dollars for the surgery.
The 'painful' procedure last month broke Moses' tibia and fibula bones and screwed magnetic, limb lengthening nails in them.
Moses now has to use a height lengthening device three times a day which pulls the cut bone apart a millimetre at a time.
This encourages his body to create new bone tissue, which will fill the gap until his desired height of 5ft 10in is achieved.
Moses said: "After the first procedure, I was happy with it to some extent, but it was always in my mind that I wanted to do the second one to complete it.
"I'm a high achiever, I'm a go-getter so after the first one I thought, with all the heightism, I've got the money and I can finish the journey.
"I spoke with the doctor and asked for three more inches.
"He said after the second surgery it's a bit more challenging, so two inches will be more reasonable.
"So I'm looking to go to 5'10. I'll be happy at 5'10. If my body and everything else allows me to go three inches [5'11] then even better.
"I went in at 7.30am and by 12 midday they were waking me up out of the surgery.
"They give you powerful pain medication as there are times when it's really painful and you have to work through it.
"You go home and you have a week or two for some healing to happen before you get the device to start lengthening."
According to the NHS website, a leg-lengthening process known as distraction may be an option for those with particularly short legs.
Using surgery, the leg bone is broken and fixed to a special frame to stretch it, allowing new bone to form in between the two broken ends of bone.
Over time, this bone gets stronger until it's able to support your weight.
Distraction can sometimes result in a significant increase in height, but it's a lengthy treatment and has a risk of complications, so isn't always recommended.
Some people have pain during or after the limb-lengthening procedure and other possible complications include poor bone formation, fracture, infection, bone lengthening at an inappropriate rate, blood clots.
There's also some uncertainty about the safety and effectiveness of the procedure, so it's important to discuss the risk with your surgeon or doctor.
After his first surgery Moses became less nervous wearing certain clothes such as shorts, and now has a girlfriend as talking to women became easier.
Moses describes how he can live more 'freely', as people no longer make comments about him being short, and would encourage anyone in a similar situation to go for the surgery.
Moses said: "[After the first one] I became less hesitant and less worried about the result when talking to women. I now have a girlfriend.
"I started wearing shorts and taking full body pictures which I never used to. It's a crazy thing nobody should feel that way.
"It's about me as a person and the way I look at myself with the height thing. In my mind, when I'm done with this part I can just be free.
"I just won't care about my height anymore. I'll be satisfied with what I have.
"There's always going to be people taller, but it will just be something that isn't on my mind anymore.
"From a young age, I've just wanted to be a normal height or average. Not where your friends look at you and say 'man, you're really short'.
"It's been my dream just for that [those kind of comments] to go away.
"People who said 'you're short', they just don't see it anymore. Even though they don't know there's difference, they ask if I've been working out.
"I'd advise anybody who wants this to go for it, it's definitely worth it.
"I'm definitely wanting to spread the word and if it can help other people go through it then so be it, I'm glad."
