Megha Chaturvedi for DNA

Mumbai, Jun 18: Love is making people scale new heights, literally. Dominic Pereira, a front office manager at a Vile Parle hotel, has undergone a limb lengthening procedure to increase his height. Reason: he is getting married to a girl taller than him.

Dominic had always been touchy about his 5-foot-3-inch height. He never liked the way people looked at him whenever he was with his girlfriend, Lara D’souza (name changed).

“Lara, at 5’5’’, is taller. Either people looked at us pointedly, or were vocal about our mismatched heights. ‘The guy is so short’, they usually remarked,” said Pereira.

He admitted that he had wanted to add a few inches to his height since he was keen on a career in the airlines. But the main motivation to undergo the surgery was to be of the same height as his girlfriend, if not taller. Before the operation, the couple had discussed the issue. “Lara was wary of it initially, but I convinced her,” he said. But the job hadn’t been easy. “When she realised that surgery could increase my height, she suggested that she should be the one undergoing it to reduce her height. I had a tough time explaining to her that the pain would be unbearable, not to speak of the financial burden it would put on us,” said Pereira.

Pereira underwent the surgery, costing about Rs1 lakh, on March 27. Dr Atul Bhaskar, orthopaedic surgeon, who performed the surgery, said, “Limb-lengthening surgery is performed mostly on people with deformities in the leg, or if they are dwarfs. When Pereira approached me, I was surprised because he was fit.” 

Pereira now hobbles on crutches. But he is happy that he got what he wanted. “I am waiting for my height to increase by an inch, and then my left leg will be operated on,” he said. It will take him one year to reach his target of 5’5’’, but with Lara by his side, Pereira will bear the pain with a smile.