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[Cubman]

Hi all, this is my first post in about 10 years but I underwent a limb lengthening in 2001 and 2002 with Dr. Vladimir Dragon in Kiev, Ukraine.   It was quite a process and I did have complications but at this point I am very happy with the results. The one piece of advice I would give is do not under estimate the amount of time it will take and the seriousness of any complications that could happen.

If anyone has questions about my experiences I would be happy to try answer questions.

Some of you might know this but Dr Dragon has passed away since I had my surgery.  He was a great guy.

[notimportant]

He was young. What did it happen to him?

About you, how many cm did you do? Internals? Price? Which complications did you have? How long did it take for you to lead a normal life?

[onemorefoot]

What kind of problems you had?

[DreamOf180cm]

Looking back, do you think it was worth it? Would you do it again? Would you change anything or do something differently?

[Cubman]

Vladimir was only in his mid 40's. He was alone in his apartment and suffered a massive heart attack. He didn't show up for work so they sent someone out and found him. Very sad.

I slipped in the shower and broke the Greater Trochanter on my left femur.  This caused my recovery to take about 2 years.  I had a non-union and had it repaired (thank God) here in the States.

Prices wouldn't be relevant from then to now.

I'll tell you the truth, it changed my life for the better because I ended up marrying a fabulous girl who is taller than I ever would have dated before.  But, I don't think my legs will ever have the strength that they had before.

It's a very difficult process. 

[Cubman]

I went from 5'5" to 5'8".  Life changing for me.  The complications were bad but I'm not sure I would do anything differently.

The best advice I can give is do the rehab and don't put much weight on your legs while you have the fixtures in, or on.

[TIBIKE200]

How do your legs feel today? In what way you mean that they will not have the strength in them as before?

[Alu]

10 years is a lot man, hope you don't mind if I ask some broad questions.

 First though, what segment did you get operated on? How did you manage to meet this doctor/gain information on him? How old were you?

Onto the bigger questions:

Is there anything you were able to do in the past that you can't do as well anymore/as well as others?

Ever tell your girl about the operation? How'd she react?

Would you ever be willing to share some pics of yourself? (You can protect your identity of course)

Most important question for me: after all this time, have you ever thought about your height/LL at all? Or have any sort of insecurities gone away?

(BTW how did you find this site? Why come now after all this time? I'm curious, not so much skeptical or judgmental)

[TrueSpartan]

What complications did you have?

How did you deal with them?

Do you still suffer from complications?

Did you tell your family and friends or did they figure it out?  How did they react?

How old were you?

Any regrets or things you would do differently that us new potential LLers should be aware of?

[Cubman]

Alu, I have been a member of this site since about 2001. When I was in Kiev in October 2001 I posted my story on this site. I posted under the name of Steve, which is my middle name.I don't know if the webmasters of this site can make my old posts available but I made them.

You have to tell your family and friends if you decide to do it. I guarantee they will find out. Mine did.   You just can't tell them all that you're going away for three months for some mysterious purpose. Someone asked if I told my girlfriend. Yes, I did, as soon as I met her because I was still on crutches.  She was 100% on board, if the girl you're with doesn't get it, get a new one.

I was 49 when I had it done. Too old? Yeah, probably but they were happy to take my money.

 How am I today? As I said earlier I don't have the strength in my legs that I had before and I probably never will. Part of it is because, I have to admit that I have not exercised like I should have. I'm not that kind a guy. I have have no problem whatsoever getting around but LL did compromise my legs.  Not complaining, everything is a trade off.

Do I think about it?  Yep, every day.  This might be crass but every time I am standing in a group of people, towering over them I think about it.

 There are a lot of potential downsides and complications but if you get through it like I did I think you will be happy. But it's a gamble and you have to think it over .

[Cubman]

 I would like to say that I do not recommend this surgery. I also do not condemn this surgery. It is almost always done in a foreign country and we are totally taking our chances. Their standards, practices and morals are not like ours so don't be surprised at anything. I guess the best way I would put it is that if you have the surgery done you are still a guinea pig. Until it is widely practiced in the United States it is something to think about.

Don't let me talk you out of it because that's not what I am trying to do.

[TIBIKE200]

I would like to say that I do not recommend this surgery. I also do not condemn this surgery. It is almost always done in a foreign country and we are totally taking our chances. Their standards, practices and morals are not like ours so don't be surprised at anything. I guess the best way I would put it is that if you have the surgery done you are still a guinea pig. Until it is widely practiced in the United States it is something to think about.

Don't let me talk you out of it because that's not what I am trying to do.

If you could go back in time would you still do it though?

[Cubman]

Read my posts, I'm pretty sure I answered that.

[The Kaiser]

How many cm did you length?
On femur right?
If you didn't tell your family about it, no way they would no. They will not imagine these kind of surgeries exist right?
As someone said above, what are the thing that you were able to do and cant now?

How long did it take to walk normally again (not running) after complication fixed?

[Cubman]

I want to answer all your questions, but please read the prior posts before asking a new question.  I'll happily give you my best answer.

[YungGud]

I want to answer all your questions, but please read the prior posts before asking a new question.  I'll happily give you my best answer.

so in general it worth it isnt it?
i wanna do 9 on tibias but im 21 y/o ,do you think it suppose to be easier?

After so many years past from the point of operation ,can you doing sports?

[Penguinn]

This was nice to read. You were 49 then and you're 65 now; if you don't have ailments aside from the loss of strength, it's a good sign regarding the long term effects of LL.

My question is: Have you been called out on it by people who didn't know about it? Surely no one believes you could grow 3" at that age, add to that your proportions possibly being an indicator if someone's analyzing you.

[onemorefoot]

Many patiens there had non-union, but those cases were with Jamal, did Jamal and Dragan operate together?

[Bander72]

Did you ever wish to do a second surgery and gain even more height?

[Cubman]

Jamal joined Dr Dragon about half way through my treatment.  He assisted Dr Dragon on my second surgery.

And NO,  I never even thought for a second about doing my tibias. I am now what I considered to be a normal height and I am quite happy.

From my experience, if you are a big sports person you may want to reconsider this surgery.  Some people have asked about limitations. I can't cross my legs together any longer. I have a heckuva time getting up off the floor without something to grab onto.   If you do it resolve to do a very serious regimen of rehab and leg exercises once you heal.   Do not put more than a few pounds of weight on your legs while they are healing. My experience is that the devices are not meant to hold your entire weight. One of the patients with me when I was there walked too soon without crutches and actually broke his nail in half.

I am not trying to scare anyone but this is not something that you just figure I'll be done in four months and everything will be great. It doesn't always work that way and I am aware of the number of people that had complications. I did it along time ago and things may be better now but go into this with your eyes wide open.

One last thing, I've seen a number of people say they want to keep it a secret. That's not gonna happen. You are not going to come back from your surgery walking around like you did before. You're going to be gone 3 to 4 months. Your friends and ran family are all going to know about it. I thought I would keep it a secret so I understand how you feel but it's impossible.

Best of luck to all!

[Bigpoppapump]

Jamal joined Dr Dragon about half way through my treatment.  He assisted Dr Dragon on my second surgery.

And NO,  I never even thought for a second about doing my tibias. I am now what I considered to be a normal height and I am quite happy.

From my experience, if you are a big sports person you may want to reconsider this surgery.  Some people have asked about limitations. I can't cross my legs together any longer. I have a heckuva time getting up off the floor without something to grab onto.   If you do it resolve to do a very serious regimen of rehab and leg exercises once you heal.   Do not put more than a few pounds of weight on your legs while they are healing. My experience is that the devices are not meant to hold your entire weight. One of the patients with me when I was there walked too soon without crutches and actually broke his nail in half.

I am not trying to scare anyone but this is not something that you just figure I'll be done in four months and everything will be great. It doesn't always work that way and I am aware of the number of people that had complications. I did it along time ago and things may be better now but go into this with your eyes wide open.

One last thing, I've seen a number of people say they want to keep it a secret. That's not gonna happen. You are not going to come back from your surgery walking around like you did before. You're going to be gone 3 to 4 months. Your friends and ran family are all going to know about it. I thought I would keep it a secret so I understand how you feel but it's impossible.

Best of luck to all!

How are your knees? Ive read stuff online that f Mir lengthening can potentially increase your chances of knee and hip pain?

In what way can you not cross your legs?

[Cubman]

That was misleading on my part,  I can sit and cross my legs just fine sitting in a chair. But I used to be able to sit flat on the floor with my legs crossed. I can't do that anymore in fact I can't even really sit on the floor well at all.

No hip or knee problems at all.

[TIBIKE200]

So your walking is not normal as well? I mean, if you passed me in the street, would I be able to see that something is off with your walking?

[Bigpoppapump]

That's good you have no problems. The orthopaedic surgeon I got referred to here in UK I asked him some questions one was if there was any long term complications from leg lengthening and his answer was no in 33 years he's not had any patients returning with problems. He did say though that past certain amounts 5cms on tibia massively increases the chances of complications and recovery which seems to be what's written here as well.

[TIBIKE200]

That's good you have no problems. The orthopaedic surgeon I got referred to here in UK I asked him some questions one was if there was any long term complications from leg lengthening and his answer was no in 33 years he's not had any patients returning with problems. He did say though that past certain amounts 5cms on tibia massively increases the chances of complications and recovery which seems to be what's written here as well.

He did femurs though.. But indeed, 3 inches of femurs is alot... Especially at 49 years old

[Bigpoppapump]

He did femurs though.. But indeed, 3 inches of femurs is alot... Especially at 49 years old

Yeah I think for femurs it was slightly more maybe 6cms or so. Basically the less you do the less problems you are likely to encounter

[YourSpaceBoyfriend]

Shame that barely anybody did both segments some years ago. No information about long term complications whatsoever.

But gotta admit, having LL at almost 50yo with complications and still having no problems at 65yo? Quite impressive.

[Cubman]

Thanks to all for the nice comments.

I am able to lead a perfectly normal life, and no, if you walked by me on the street you would have no idea that I have had surgery.

The complications were physically very difficult and emotionally draining but, looking back on it all, I am happy with my choice.

By the way, my right leg lengthened and healed perfectly with no issues. 

Best of luck to all.

[emanuel]

Hello Cubman,

first I want to congratulate you - doing LL successfully in the late 40s is a great achievement.

Your story was an interesting read for me, because I see a lot of parallels to mine.
I lengthened in Kiev as well, with Dr. Jamal in 2013. Also our starting height is the same. I too went from 5.5 to 5.8, but lost some of the gained height due to non union and resulting nail breakage on both sides. Probably I gained a little over 6cm permanently after all.

May I ask what was done in the States to heal your non union? Mine has not properly been healed yet, even though I can walk without crutches since almost 1 year and it looks close to normal.
A non union is a tough LL complication, many people on the forums underestimate it.

And one more question (maybe I missed the answer in your previous posts): Can you run and do difficult sports like soccer/tennis/squash or the likes?


Best Regards
emanuel

[ub40]

Hello Cubman,

first I want to congratulate you - doing LL successfully in the late 40s is a great achievement.

Your story was an interesting read for me, because I see a lot of parallels to mine.
I lengthened in Kiev as well, with Dr. Jamal in 2013. Also our starting height is the same. I too went from 5.5 to 5.8, but lost some of the gained height due to non union and resulting nail breakage on both sides. Probably I gained a little over 6cm permanently after all.

May I ask what was done in the States to heal your non union? Mine has not properly been healed yet, even though I can walk without crutches since almost 1 year and it looks close to normal.
A non union is a tough LL complication, many people on the forums underestimate it.

And one more question (maybe I missed the answer in your previous posts): Can you run and do difficult sports like soccer/tennis/squash or the likes?


Best Regards
emanuel

Hey Emmanuel. It seems that alot of Dr Jamal's patients have non union. Were you able to solve this problem. If so how? Hope you're doing well