I stayed in Russia for 4 weeks, and lengthened in Singapore.. Medical care in Singapore is top notch so I actually feel better in Singapore. My pin-site infection was treated very well in Accident and Emergency and subsequently at the orthopaedic specialist clinic in the tertiary hospital I went to. I was very unhappy with the Russian treatment of superficial pinsite infections. They are so unwilling to give antibiotics, and the antibiotics given topically is quite ineffective. I was forced to self-medicate a variety of antibiotics whilst in Russia: augmentin, cipro and even self-injected ceftriaxone. All this to no avail. I came back to Singapore, was put on Cephalexin which eventually killed the infection, as well as Bactroban cream (muriprocin)
Dr Bagirov and Fahri are very confident that issues are unlikely to arise. They say that, if a bent or broken pin occurs, my home orthopaedic surgeon should be able to replace. But the risk is so low.
Until now, I have no bent pins or whatever. I see my home orthopaedic surgeon every 2-3 weeks.
Lengthening at home, you feel more comfortable. You sleep well. Psychologically you are so much better. I did not like staying at the clinic (clinical environment, and many people looking at you, no privacy) and the hotel (got tired of being alone, with no care-taker or friend with me - except for a few days when a friend came over to bring supplies).
All in all, lengthen at home if you are doing with Dr bagirov. If I had a choice, I would have left at 1 or 2 weeks post-op as suggested by the clinic. (But I wanted to make sure everything was stable)
However, I add the qualifier that the Indian doctors and Dr Barinov's devices are not as stable as Bagirov's. I have heard the surgeon doing so much manipulation when so many issues arise. The indian doctors and barinov are probably not as skilled. In my case, there was no nerve issues, etc, which needed medical advice or intervention. So I think the device stability and operative skill is very important. If you want to do with other doctors, I will recommend you to stay in Russia.
I think crimsontide and armypleb also did the lengthening process at home. Crimsontide had some bad problems but it did not require surgery. Armypleb has severe ballerina but this does not require surgery either. As for me I am at 5 cm with no soft tissue complications. A few times In a day, I do get sharp shooting pains though. That is my only worry.