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[Activatedx]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting, but I’ve been reading on this forum for over a year

I’m 21, 5’5 1/2 and from the United States. I live about a couple hours away from Paley and want to do this sometime next year, however the cost of this in the United States is ridiculous, you can buy a house with that type of money. Needless to say, I am sad that I have to be honest in that being of average height would bring me more satisfaction than materialistic items. Everything else about me and my life is great besides stature, i am more than satisfied with my face and body, and I’m financially well for my age (not enough to blow 80-100k on Paley/Rozbruch), I wear 2”shoe lifts with shoes puts me at about 5’8 don’t have a problem with women) I guess you could say that is my only insecurity and it is a big one. Sadly I got the short end of my parents genes (literally on mom and dads side every male in my family is around 5’11/6ft except my dad, who is a little over 5’9 and the shortest out of All of them, even my nephew is about his height and he’s only 14). Being short really sucks, you can be highly qualified and intelligent however a lot of people will undermine you and disregard you due to your height. I own my own business, but if I was to work a regular job being a high position such as manager while being my height is possible but requires more effort, people don’t respect you as much, don’t view you as if you have substance. This is not to say it is not possible but there is a reason why 80-90% of recent presidents, ceos, etc are over 6ft or maybe 1-2 inches less than that. I didn’t realize it years ago, but as I got older I realized height is a subliminal yet giant factor especially in a males life.


More to the point, im not some airhead that hasn’t read of the limits and complications of this surgery and is trying to lengthen a ludicrous amount, being 6ft would be cool but I am more than happy aiming for 10-11cm max, currently i am 166cm.
The nails are too invasive for my liking. I’m sure it’s a good option for 7-8cm lengthening of femurs. but i prefer the idea of 5cm per segment using externals..
Might be a stupid idea but I was thinking of looking into kurgan for 5-6cm on femur and then after 2-3 months 4.5-5cm on tibia using externals. I know internals are less painful, easier,  and take less time to heal, but they are more invasive, also read about knee pain,  and then you have to take the nail out. I don’t mind wearing externals for a year, and having to constantly clean the pins. I am more than positive my motivation will be enough to do whatever is necessary, but my main concern are the doctors in Russia. It seems they pioneered this yet have somewhat of a bad connotation after reading the forums. Is thinking that kurgans center can do 5cm femur and tibia lengthening properly with externals for about 20% of the price as Paley/Rozbruch wishful thinking of me? The hospital fees alone are a fortune, but I’m sure they have better technology. My biggest fear is either permanently harming myself or paying the money and getting scammed or getting my kidney stolen or something. As much as I would love being average/4inches taller, I don’t want to be in a wheelchair or limp.
Lastly, is there any diaries of people who have lengthened 15-20 years ago and are still in overall good shape?

Let me know of your opinions, if kurgan is not a good option what about catagni or giotikas using externals for 5cm on femurs and tibia (not at same time, maybe 2 months apart)

[Ghostfish]

Hi Activatedx

I don't really know kurgan but can tell you that external femur is a bad idea.  External tibia is already an extremely hard procedure.  Think about having a huge frame in your upper legs. Whenever you move or not move, it hurts.  You can't even sit on toilet.  There is much higher risk for complication than tibia, not to mention it is much more painful than external tibia.  Although external femurs had done in the past, these days almost no doctors do external femurs, unless that is an only option to treat some serious patients not for CLL. 

I don't really understand why you think internal is more invasive than external.  What is the definition of "invasive"?  External method generally introduces more complications, infections, and pain than internal method.  LON method for tibia will insert the rod in your tibia after lengthening, anyway.  Especially, if you compare external femur and internal femur, internal femur is less invasive to patients.

Since you said that you are financially well for your age, why don't you consider Stryde.  Although you said you don't have enough money yet, you can save some additional money over a couple of years and get a loan.  I think that would be actually a way to save money, because you can go back to work quite soon, whereas external method needs more time to recover prior to work.

[Activatedx]

Thanks for your reply, I may consider doing external tibia and then femur with stryde then. How does lotn work? How do they lengthen before they nail? With externals no?

[Ghostfish]

Thanks for your reply, I may consider doing external tibia and then femur with stryde then. How does lotn work? How do they lengthen before they nail? With externals no?

Hi Activatedx
LON seems similar to traditional Ilizarov method since external lengthening device will be installed around tibia.  After lengthening done, doctor inserts a metal rod to support tibias so that patients can start walking back again and get back to life.  Because of the rod, patients can go back to work or life within 5-6 months.  Ilizarov method will let you keep the external device until your bones are consolidated so you can't go back to work for a long time.  I think this is the main reason why these days most of patients will choose LON over Ilizarov.  However, you have to remove that rod after about 2 years.  I didn't really study a lot about these methods since I didn't plan on that.

Before you do the second lengthening on femurs, you will need to recover a little from the first surgery.  So I guess 1 year could be a good time after the first surgery.  Or you need at least 7-8 months.  You can't do the both surgery together in general, although some doctors do cross lengthening.  Search more for the details.

[Activatedx]

Is cross lengthening a safe option?
I feel like lengthening the femur of your right leg and tibia of your left leg, then doing femur of left and tibia of your right during second surgery isn’t as efficient as lengthening one leg at a time but no doctors I have seen recommend doing that. I’ve seen a few offer cross lengthening, but wouldn’t it be better to just lengthen the tibia and femur on one leg at a time, that way you would have another leg to use during lengthening

I know you can’t do the surgery at the same time but within a few months apart is possibly I’m sure, Paley offers doing femur and tibia as soon as 3 weeks apart

[Ghostfish]

Is cross lengthening a safe option?
I feel like lengthening the femur of your right leg and tibia of your left leg, then doing femur of left and tibia of your right during second surgery isn’t as efficient as lengthening one leg at a time but no doctors I have seen recommend doing that. I’ve seen a few offer cross lengthening, but wouldn’t it be better to just lengthen the tibia and femur on one leg at a time, that way you would have another leg to use during lengthening

I know you can’t do the surgery at the same time but within a few months apart is possibly I’m sure, Paley offers doing femur and tibia as soon as 3 weeks apart

You know. I can't even say that any lengthening is a safe option.   But I do see some patients who did cross lengthening in this forum. As far as I know, Dr. Sarin in India offers this method.  Personally, I wouldn't do this but some people did or will do.  The reason you can't do one leg for both femur and tibia is that it is too dangerous mainly due to fat embolism.  It is safer to do one surgery in femur in one leg and the other one in tibia in the other leg.  Of course, you can't use both legs in this case.  But the safety is much more important.

As far as I know, Dr. Paley offers quadrilateral lengthening, meaning that the first surgery will do tibia and 3-4 weeks later femurs will be undergoing for the second surgery.

[Activatedx]

Thank you ghostfish, i read on fat embolism and understand now why you cant do it. The fat (cells? particles) from two wounds on one leg can cause big complications vs one wound on each leg. The more i read on LL the more i am fascinated with how it works and orthopedics in general. Ive learned so much lol this was like a college class to me. If i wasnt 21 and already have an associates degree i might have made this my college career to study