An Australian politician has gone to extraordinary lengths to be taken seriously by her peers: she has had her legs broken and stretched to become 3in (8cm) taller.

“A lot of young females have insecurities about their weight or their nose; mine was my height,” said Hajnal Ban, 31, a councillor with Logan City council in Queensland.

After nine months of excruciating pain, the councillor became a “normal” 5ft 4in.

Ms Ban was taunted at school and feared that her height would damage her credibility as she entered the legal profession and later went into local politics.

So she went to the Ilizarov orthopaedic clinic in Kurgan, Russia, and paid surgeons A$40,000 (£19,000) to break both her legs in four places and stretch them slowly for 1mm every day for nine months. Eventually she grew from 154cm (just under 5ft 1in) to 162cm.

“From the time I flew to Russia to the time I was able to wear high heels again was about a year in total, but at least nine months of that was excruciatingly painful,” she said. “You see sports people going in who need that extra height, and models . . . it’s a well-kept secret.”

Ms Ban, who was born in Israel and is of Hungarian origin, has lived in Australia since she was a child. She ran unsuccessfully for the conservative National Party during the federal election in 2007 and has been a local councillor for three years.

She had the surgery when she was a 23-year-old barrister but Australian media only latched on to her medical history this week. Ms Ban told The Times that she did not want to be remembered as “the girl who got her legs lengthened”.

“I want people to take me seriously and to be known for the work I do as a politician in my local community,” she said.

Ms Ban said that despite the success of her surgery she would not recommend it for anyone else because it was “not everyone’s cup of tea”.

“I have absolutely no regrets. It was a decision I made in consultation with my family. I was prepared, I did my research and I’m very lucky because the results are good,” she said.

“But as much as it worked for me . . . it is not something I would necessarily promote or endorse. I would never recommend anyone for leg lengthening or liposuction or any other surgery. People have to take it up individually.”

Ms Ban said that she would not rule out further cosmetic enhancements. “I haven’t made a decision on whether I will in the future or not. I know I’ll get wrinkles and put on weight, and I’ll even shrink as I get older, so we’ll see what happens,” she said. “But I’m not fixated on self-image.”

Change of image

— Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, said that he felt “25 years younger” after revealing a hair transplant in December 2004. He had worn a bandana in public for four months

— Carlos Menem, the former President of Argentina, admitted improving his hairline and cheekbones

— Newspapers speculated that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, below, the current President, had Botox treatment before elections

— In 2002 Gerhard Schröder sued the German news agency DDP for suggesting that he dyed his hair. The case was settled out of court after his barber was called as a witness

— The MP Ann Widdecombe shocked Westminster by going blonde after the 2001 general election

Source: Times archive

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