Warning: U text are medical details that may upset some readers.
Elaine Fu's legs bear thick, purple scars, reminders of a leg-lengthening operation gone wrong.
Since 2016, this 49-year-old has had five surgical procedures and three bone transplants, on which she spent all her savings.
She ended up suing her surgeon in a court case that ended in July, but he pleaded not guilty.
Elaine had many problems - the metal rod-implant pierced her bone, and she felt as if her legs were "frying from the inside".
"This experience was fiery, but I survived," she says.
Her doctor steadfastly denied negligence and emphasized that some of the problems were caused by the complications she had been warned about, while others were caused by her own actions.
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The way to the surgery is 85.000 euros
Elaine has always been unhappy about her height.
"At 12, I was taller than most girls," she says.
"At 14, I was suddenly shorter than everyone else. Over time, it grew into an obsession.
"More is better. More means more beautiful. I simply felt that taller people have more chances."
When she grew up, her height suffering became unbearable.
She believes she had body dysmorphia, a mental health disorder where a person perceives parts of their body as extremely ugly, deformed and unattractive, regardless of how others see them.
It is a disorder that can have terrible consequences.
When she was 25, Elaine came across a text about a Chinese clinic that performed leg lengthening operations.
The text gives gruesome details about the device for external fixation of the leg, reminiscent of medieval cages, and the serious infections that can occur.
Such an operation seemed like a nightmare, but it intrigued Elaine.
"I know people will say it's vanity," she says.
"But when you suffer from body dysmorphia, there's no rational explanation for feeling so awful."
Sixteen years later, Elaine discovered a private clinic in London where these operations were performed.
They were performed by orthopedic surgeon Jean-Marc Guichet, a specialist in limb lengthening, who even created his own lengthening device, known as the Guichet rod.
"I was so happy because I could do it in London and I could recover at home," she recalls.
"Doctor Giše openly explained to me the possible complications - nerve damage, blood clots, the possibility of the bones not joining together.
"But I researched myself, I will be operated on by a very expensive doctor and I expected adequate medical service and care.
"My dream was to grow from my 157 centimeters to 165 centimeters".
She went for the operation, which cost around 58.000 euros, on July 25, when the experience that would change her life began.
Leg lengthening operations are performed relatively rarely, but are performed in private clinics around the world.
Depending on where they are performed, the price ranges from around 17.500 euros to more than 175.000 euros.
Watch the video: Leg lengthening surgery - an expensive and painful process
After surgery
"Waking up from anesthesia was very exciting, because it seemed like nothing had happened. I had no pain.
"But 90 minutes later, the pain started. I felt as if someone was cooking my legs, as if they were frying from the inside.
"That first night I screamed until six in the morning, until I fell asleep screaming."
Some pain is expected after this operation.
During the operation, the leg bones are broken into two parts, and then a metal rod-implant is inserted.
Metal rods are gradually stretched and separate the two ends of the broken bone.
As this procedure creates a space between the two ends of the bone, new bone grows to fill the gap.
The operation is complex and is only the beginning of a long leg lengthening procedure.
"It takes about two or three months, and then it takes at least another four to six months to regain leg function," says Professor Hamish Simpson, former council member of the British Orthopedic Association.
"It takes a year off most people's lives."
After the operation, the process of lengthening Ilejna's legs began.
Several times a day she had to turn her legs to start the mechanism for stretching the bar.
But two weeks later, as he says, the disaster began.
"My left leg hurt a lot.
"Then one night, while I was turning over in bed, I heard a sound that resembled the crunching of chocolate and biscuits, which was accompanied by severe pain".
Elaine made a video that confirmed her fears.
The rod-implant in her left leg pierced the femur, the strongest bone in the human body.
She was distraught, but she says that Dr. Giše calmed her down.
"He told me that all I need to do now is not to worry.
"Wait for it to heal and when it does, we'll start the process again."
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Problems
While her right leg was lengthening, she was scheduled for another operation to fix the problem with her left leg, which should eventually be as long as her right leg.
Elaine says that she was told that the additional surgery would cost thousands of euros, but that she was willing to pay if it solved all the problems.
By September, her right leg had reached its goal—it was seven centimeters longer.
However, new problems arose.
The difference in the length of her right and left leg caused problems, her spine bent and the pain did not stop.
Six weeks later, scans of her right leg showed that the bone that was meant to fill the gap between the broken ends of the bone was not growing properly.
Her femur looked like two bones joined by a metal rod-implant.
Elaine turned to Giše, who scheduled another operation for her, this time at the clinic in Milan, Italy, where he worked.
In April 2017, the procedure to lengthen Elaine's left leg began again, while simultaneously injecting bone marrow into her right leg to encourage bone growth.
After the operation, when Elaine woke up, even worse news awaited her.
"Doctor Giše told me that the rod broke while he was taking it out," she says.
"He had another patient's rod that he could insert."
She paid extra for that, says Ilejn.
Three days later, although she could barely move, she returned to London because she was desperate to be home.
He says that communication with Giše worsened, and by the summer it had completely stopped.
Judicial proceeding
She did not know who to turn to, and by July 2017 she managed to make an appointment with a specialist in orthopedic surgery in the British National Health Service (NHS).
She says the specialist told her "this won't be a short trip".
"I had to prepare myself for at least five years of treatment until I was completely cured," she says.
Eight years after the first operation, Elaine says she is still recovering from the psychological and physical scars.
He says he has a lot of trouble moving around and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"From 2017 to 2020, I hid from the world. I didn't have a partner, I was unemployed, penniless and disabled."
But recently, the end has begun to appear.
The four-year legal battle ended in July when Dr Guiche agreed to pay Elaine a "significant" sum to settle her claims against him, but admitted no liability.
The surgeon's defense attorney denied any negligence on the part of Giše.
"There was no negligence in Dr. Guiche's case, the fracture and delayed healing of the bone are unfortunate complications that were not caused by negligence, and about which Ms. Fu was warned before the operation," the lawyer stated.
"Limited bone regeneration on the right side was exacerbated by the antidepressants that Ms. Fu had been using that she had not reported taking, as well as the intentional stretching of the rod-implant in the right leg beyond the agreed-upon length."
He also claimed in court that Fu "often refused" to follow Guiche's advice and neglected rehabilitation and physiotherapy.
Elaine disputes all these claims.
She says that antidepressants are not associated with complications and believes that the doctor is responsible for what happened to her.
Elaine assumed she was safe because of the large amount she had paid.
However, she paid a much higher price than the money she spent.
"I lost the best years of my life.
"I know that people like to hear that someone has regrets, and what would I say if someone asked me now if I would have done it if I had known what was waiting for me? I would definitely say, 'No, thank you very much.'"
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