Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Vanzant]

Hi I'll be going to Guichet for my first surgery in July 2016. I'm not sure wether to start with femurs or tibias?

I thought tibias since I was originally planning on having the 2nd surgery (femurs) 3-4 weeks after the first (tibias) and since tibias take longer to lengthen and heal wouldn't it be better to start with tibs?

The lengthening may overlap but only for a week or so, and I would have finished lengthening tibias within 1-2 weeks into lengthening femurs.

I'm ~162 cm and aiming for 5.5 (tibs) and 6.5 (fem) to reach ~174.

Now I'm still considering quadrilateral lengthening just one segment at a time, which would obviously be femurs first. Guichet says in some patients 6 cm in 6 weeks is possible and considering recovery time, with one surgery (considering everything goes well) I should be 85-99% back to "normal" within 1.5-2 months after lengthening (2.5-3 months post op). Then do tibs next summer.

Those estimates are based on my individual health/healing response. Im in my very late teens and have the "body building" genes; I'm a mesomorph. I see gains at the gym faster than usual and literally heal faster in general.

[Vanzant]

(Originally posted in patient experiences by accident) Hi I'll be going to Guichet for my first surgery in July 2016. I'm not sure wether to start with femurs or tibias?

I thought tibias since I was originally planning on having the 2nd surgery (femurs) 3-4 weeks after the first (tibias) and since tibias take longer to lengthen and heal wouldn't it be better to start with tibs?

The lengthening may overlap but only for a week or so, and I would have finished lengthening tibias within 1-2 weeks into lengthening femurs.

I'm ~162 cm and aiming for 5.5 (tibs) and 6.5 (fem) to reach ~174.

Now I'm still considering quadrilateral lengthening just one segment at a time, which would obviously be femurs first. Guichet says in some patients 6 cm in 6 weeks is possible and considering recovery time, with one surgery (considering everything goes well) I should be 85-99% back to "normal" within 1.5-2 months after lengthening (2.5-3 months post op). Then do tibs next summer.

Those estimates are based on my individual health/healing response. Im in my very late teens and have the "body building" genes; I'm a mesomorph. I see gains at the gym faster than usual and literally heal faster in general.

[applesandoranges]

Not to sound rude, but your question is not logical.

You have surgery coming up in July 2016, and you are asking this forum if it should be femur or tibia.

If you had surgery coming up, you would know which limb is being operated on. You would already have a complete understanding of your surgery. Your doctor would have explained it completely. Why are you asking internet strangers if femur or tibia is better when you already have a surgery date. This is not logical..

[Alu]

Does Guichet himself offer QL?

We're practically on the same boat here on wanting QL for Max recovery and max gain. So far the only doctors I know willing to do that are Paley and Monegal. I'm interested if Guchet does it too, never heard him doing it at all.

[Anna21]

Here is what Guichet emailed me a few days ago.

"Femoral lengthening should be performed first as it heals far better than tibias. Tibia may take over one year to heal, while femur take generally far shorter. Both at the same time is too much demanding from your body and risky. Sequential or repeated lengthening can be performed, and one of our patients got 18 cm of gain (7 inches) in 2 surgeries. The second level of bones/surgery is performed for security after full recovery, in general 9-12 months after the first one."

Hope this answers your question!