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[joax]

Hello,

I've pretty much decided that I'm going for LL and I want to do it early next year. I'm 1.73m and I want to reach 1.78. I think it's a pretty achievable goal.

My questions: What is better for this, tibia or femur?

What is the expected recovery time for 5cms?

I've been reading the forums and love all the information here. Any other advice related to my specific circumstances is welcome.

Thanks!

[KiloKAHN]

If you're only planning one surgery then I think tibias are the better choice. With 5 cm of lengthening you can do external fixation and have the frames off in 5 - 7.5 months.

[ChrisIsaak]

It depends on your current proportions, but the methods frequently used for tibia lengthening (LON/LATN/Classic Ilizarov) are more affordable than internal lengthening methods commonly used for femur lengthening. So it also depends on your budget. The expected recovery time for 5 cm's would be at least 5 months. Think one month for each cm lengthened.

[GeTs]

If you're only planning one surgery then I think tibias are the better choice. With 5 cm of lengthening you can do external fixation and have the frames off in 5 - 7.5 months.

parihar said that? 5 months for 5 cm seems rare

[joax]

Why, is 5 months too long? I was thinking of doing it in China with dr. Xia (I love China and been there twice), but starting to have second thoughts due to a recent thread. Are there any other good doctors in China or which one do you recommend for under $40k? Thanks.

[KiloKAHN]

parihar said that? 5 months for 5 cm seems rare

You'd need quite speedy consolidation for 1 month per cm to be the case for an adult, although it's possible it's mostly the case for adolescents. 1.5 months per cm is much more common for healthy adults.

Why, is 5 months too long? I was thinking of doing it in China with dr. Xia (I love China and been there twice), but starting to have second thoughts due to a recent thread. Are there any other good doctors in China or which one do you recommend for under $40k? Thanks.

You can remove the frames much sooner than 5 months if you get LON but if you go exfix only then 5 months for 5 cm is a bit on the fast side for adults and is more often the case for children. You'd more likely need 1.5 months per cm but everybody is different and you may recover faster or slower.

I had a really good experience with Dr Mangal Parihar in Mumbai. He's a previous fellow of Dr Paley and has over 20 years of experience in limb lengthening. You'd end up paying $15,000 USD for the surgery plus around $1,500 monthly for expenses while staying in a hotel.

http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=87.0

There are some other options in India that I liked during my consultations, Dr Manish Dhawan and Dr Suhas Shah in particular.

Dr Birkholtz in Pretoria, South Africa is a doctor that TheRisingShorty had a great experience with doing internal femurs. He offers external tibias for around $30,000 USD.

http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=137.0

There's another clinic in China that does the surgery: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=505.0

Another good option would be Dr Catagni in Lecco, Italy. He was influential in Ilizarov surgeries. http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=783.0