China's Banned Leg-lengthening Surgery Fuels Underground Broker Network

An underground network in China is luring young people into banned cosmetic leg-lengthening surgery, with former patients acting as recruiters and earning commissions of up to 80,000 yuan (US$11,000) for each new customer, according to a Jiemian News investigation yesterday.

The surgery, known as limb lengthening, involves cutting the leg bones and slowly pulling them apart with external or internal devices to stimulate new bone growth. China banned the procedure for purely cosmetic purposes in 2006, allowing it only for medical conditions such as congenital deformities, trauma, tumors, infections or limb-length discrepancies.

But Jiemian found that a gray-market industry continues to operate through orthopedic doctors, brokers and recovery centers. The surgeries can cost from more than 100,000 yuan to over 1 million yuan, while patients are left to bear the cost of infections, chronic pain and long-term complications.

One patient, a 30-year-old online influencer identified by the pseudonym Wu Shuang, said she paid 160,000 yuan for surgery arranged through a broker. She had originally planned to undergo the procedure in a hospital in Yunnan Province, where her medical records would allegedly be falsified as treatment for bow legs or knock knees. After the team was reported by rivals, she was sent instead to a hospital in Laos.

Wu, who is 1.54 meters tall and has more than 2 million followers online, said she had long felt insecure about her height. After the operation in early 2026, her legs were fixed with 24 pins. Within two weeks, her left leg became infected, swollen and hot. She now takes painkillers daily and stopped the lengthening process after gaining only 3 centimeters.

“Every slight movement feels like needles stabbing my skin,” she told Jiemian. The pain in the broken bone, she said, felt “like a knife cutting through tissue and bone.”

Another patient, identified as Feng Jiqiu, underwent the surgery in Turkey in 2021 and said she still suffers from chronic osteomyelitis, foot deformity and knock knees five years later. She had gained 11 centimeters, growing from 1.55 meters to 1.66 meters, but said the scars, thickened calves and altered gait left her feeling even less confident.

“I regret it very much,” Feng said. “There was no need to do this surgery. Health matters most.”

The investigation found that many brokers were former patients who used their recovery stories on social media to attract new customers. They posted videos, joined comment threads and invited interested users to private chats. Some charged consultation fees of 100 to 200 yuan. Insiders said lower-level recruiters could earn 15,000 yuan for each successful referral, while brokers working with overseas clinics could take 80,000 yuan per case.

Wu said many of the people promoting the surgery were still in recovery themselves. Some, patients said, turned to brokering because complications prevented them from returning to work.

One broker boss, known online as “Magua,” was also a former patient, according to Feng. After undergoing an 8-centimeter procedure in 2023, he allegedly discovered the profits in referrals and began organizing surgeries through teams in China and overseas.

Jiemian said it contacted a group linked to Magua under the name “LJR Limb Correction Center.” A man representing the group said its partner surgeon was Cao Pijian, a former orthopedic doctor in Shandong whose medical license was revoked in 2024 for carrying out non-medical leg-lengthening procedures. The man said the team had previously operated in Heze, Shandong, before moving to Yunnan after being reported.

He declined to identify the hospital before a 10,000 yuan deposit was paid, saying the team had “ways” to secure access. “We are responsible for opening up the hospital channel,” he said. “How the middle links work, which leaders or hospitals are involved, has nothing to do with you.”

The investigation also found similar broker teams in Jiangsu Province and previously reported activity in Fujian Province. One Jiangsu broker, identified as Li Zhong, said a surgery would cost 120,000 yuan and that patients could pay another 36,000 yuan to stay in a recovery apartment in Nanjing for three months. He said the procedure was performed by doctors working secretly because cosmetic limb lengthening is banned in China.

Orthopedic expert Qin Sihe, honorary president of the China Rehabilitation Assistive Devices Research Center’s affiliated hospital, said proper limb-lengthening surgery requires extensive orthopedic expertise and long-term management of complications. The surgery itself is not the hardest part, he said; preventing and treating complications is.

Experts cited in the report said possible complications include nerve and vascular damage, muscle contracture, joint stiffness, dislocation, poor bone healing and osteomyelitis, which can cause disability in severe cases.

Patients told Jiemian they had been reassured by brokers that the procedure was safe, minimally invasive and not very painful. Wu said one online promoter persuaded her to visit a recovery center in Yunnan after charging her 128 yuan for a consultation. She booked a flight the same day.

She later realized the operation was nothing like the pitch. She said she lost about 1,000 milliliters of blood, suffered severe bruising and developed an infection that required further treatment at her own expense.

Patients interviewed said most people seeking the surgery were between 18 and 30, and many were women working in beauty-related industries, livestreaming, e-commerce, modeling or nightlife. Some were already relatively tall, including a 1.68-meter woman and a 1.82-meter man, according to one former patient.

A psychology researcher quoted by Jiemian said some young people fixate on appearance and wrongly believe changing their bodies will solve broader life problems. Feng compared the decision to gambling.

“Everyone knows there are risks, but everyone wants to take the bet,” she said. “If an investment fails, you lose money. But with this, you pay with your health.”

Wu said she now struggles to understand her former self.

“Why would a healthy person pay so much money,” she said, “to have someone break both of her leg bones?”