Method: Bilateral tibia lengthening-over-nail
Pre-LL height: 175cm
Wingspan: 183cm
Post-LL height: 181cm (lengthened 6cm)
Hi,
I had leg lengthening surgery with Dr. Donghoon Lee in South Korea in Feb 2017. I had my frames removed and internal nail fixed in June. I’m a guy in his 20’s from Canada. I chose to proceed with Dr. Lee for a number of reasons. Dr. Lee is a staff pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Severance hospital which is one of the largest and most reputable hospitals in South Korea which meant that his practice included but was not limited to cosmetic limb lengthening. Being a foreigner, I felt safer going to a reputable hospital. Also, Dr. Lee states on his website that his complication rate for nonunion is 0% so far which was good to see. I watched many postop videos on his youtube channel and saw that he had a number of publications regarding leg lengthening. I also read that Dr. Lee uses bone marrow aspirate with every case to prevent poor bone growth/nonunion (thus, the extra $5000 included in his fees, two small scars on iliac crests). I don’t know if it applied to me because I was doing tibias, but Dr. Lee also trained with Dr. Paley.
I went at this surgery on my own. I got a temporary lease for a furnished apartment (internet, TV, etc) in Seoul prior to the surgery. I used the taxi to get to follow-up appointments every 2 weeks (I lived around 25km from the hospital and I could get there for 20-25US one way). I ordered in food on most days because I was lazy but I could order groceries over the internet which I did sometimes to cook for myself. In Korea, you can buy pretty much everything over the internet and have it delivered to your door. I used gmarket alot. I also got myself a mobility scooter towards the later months to help me get around outside and pay bills because I was lazy (or just not flexible) and got ballerina foot where I couldn’t walk very well with the walker. In the apartment, I bought a height-adjustable wheeled stool to easily move around, and do my dishes etc. When I had to go to the bathroom at night, I just did the bum-slide and pulled myself up to the toilet.
I chose to do LON tibias because I didn’t have the money for femurs or internal methods. In addition, I had to go at it alone, so I couldn’t do the internal nails which aren’t full weight-bearing. In terms of the procedure itself, I had the surgery and then stayed at the hospital for 6 or 7 days. I left a day earlier than usual because I could walk with the walker and I didn’t want to pay for extra hospital days. Plus, always ask if you can be transferred to multi-patient rooms as it is much cheaper than single or two-patient rooms. I began lengthening on post op day 9. I read that the initial delay allows blood vessels to reform between the cut segments. Dr. Lee allows 4 turns = 1mm a day. With LON, it takes around 2-3 week of turning before any height gains are made as I guess the soft tissue starts to give (the pins bend slightly as well). After that, 1mm/day gains are more reliable (ie. at 60 days of turning, i was around 4.1cm taller). Actual lengthened amount is determined through x-rays at each visit and discrepancies between legs are corrected whether it is length or bend (valgus/varus). One thing to note is that if you are heavier, have bigger legs, or plan to walk alot, you should have more rods supporting your frame to get the 1mm/day. Everybody bends the bone pins but not the rods. For an average person, 4 rods support each frame. I had 4 until I bent them quite a bit, probably from being heavier (I workout all the time) and walking alot initially. After it was increased to 6, I gained 1mm/day more or less. I was told some patients got the max 8 rods per frame. The downside is that it makes the Ilizarov frame a bit wider. Other than that, I had a few pin site infections which were dealt with oral antibiotics.
In terms of physio, you see a physiotherapist at every appointment who mainly assesses your progress. Tibia patients do most of their physio (stretching to prevent ballerina) at home. You also get a pair of shoes that have straps which clip onto the frame which passively stretches your ankle. If you aren’t progressing, you may be told to come in to the hospital to do physio everyday. Some patients used a slanted board/wedge to stand on for hours each day which I think can really help.
My bones have healed and although I am still a bit stiff I know it’ll go away with more stretching. Now I’m trying to move beyond my surgery and enjoy my new height!
Things I noticed during/after surgery:
- you really notice the increase in height at around 5cm
- after frame removal, you feel like you have short arms especially when wearing shoes but this lessens over time
- if you are a bit taller to begin with, you may notice that your knees and thighs are lifted up on fixed height chairs, but with increase in ankle flexibility, this weird sensation lessens over time
- for the same reason, I recommend not lengthening too much on tibias if you are a bit taller to begin with for comfort sakes on fixed height chairs (park benches, airplane seats, etc)
- I like being taller and not having to hem pants
Author
Topic: LON Tibia with Dr. Donghoon Lee in South Korea (Read 4945 times)