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[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Hey guys!!

I am currently doing LL in the form of LON femurs with Dr. Halil Buldu in Istanbul, Turkey. My surgery was july 3rd, and i will be reaching approximately 3cm on the 10th of august. My starting height was 177-8 in the morning and could drop to 177-76. My initial goal was an 8cm increase on my femurs, but after reading various threads on this forum i am questioning the safety behind this. I guess my question is, how much safer would for example 6.5/7cm be compared to 8cm?

As for now i feel i am in great shape, i have full knee extension, about 100 degrees flexion (still working on that). I do heavy upper body workouts almost every day to keep my upper body muscle mass and it also helps my mental state a lot. I decided to stay in Istanbul during lengthening so i could receive daily physical therapy. I have little to no day to day pain. I am still working on being able to walk unassisted but my balance isn't the best at the moment.

Additionally, if you have any questions about my surgery, just fire away. Hope you guys have a great weekend! 

[a]

6-7 cm is literally the best. 8 has always been too risky for me. Also, are you turkish? Can I pm you?
I'm also considering Mr. Buldu

Best Regards

edit Does it hurt? Is it tolerable ? Would you recommend Halil Buldu? How much exactly did you pay?

You may want to answer the first 2 questions when you reach 5cm and more.

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Nah man i'm not from Turkey, i'm from Sweden.

Regarding your question about pain: the first week is pretty bad painwise but you get taken really good care of down here. It is also very manageable with the painkillers you get, when leaving the hospital you get tramadol, oral voltarol, geralgine- k (paracetamol/caffeine/codeine) that really helps. I stopped pretty early with the NSAIDs as they can be very bad for bone healing. The pain is very tolerable if you consider your pain tolerance to be normal. As for your question if i would recommend Dr. Halil, i absolutely would. I traveled down here on my own and i am staying in an apartment all alone. Halil has been incredibly helpful with helping me with day to day stuff, i can contact his assistant whenever i want and she does everything for me, she is a an absolute saint. The physical therapist is also very skilled. Surgery price was 17000 USD.

In my opinion, the pain was at its absolute peak at the start of this journey, and now it is not bad at all. I pretty much never take painkillers and i only get "nagging" pains every once in a while. If you'd like, you can send me a pm and i can give you my whatsapp or something.

[a]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll pray for you bro, I hope you return your daily life quickly. Are there any problems about bone alignment? Did doctor say anything? Also, it'd be excellent if we could see your xrays since i'm really considering Buldu and most of his patients don't post any pictures for privacy reasons which is ABSOLUTELY acceptable. If you don't want to post them, it's totally fine. I understand you.

Best Regards

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Thanks so much for the kind words man, i am sure i will be okay. I am being taken really good care of down here. Dr. Halil even told me "since you will be here alone, me and my assistant will act as your family". He really is a good guy who cares about his patients.

As for the x-rays, i have only gotten one xray at approximately 1.5cm lengthening. I don't have them on my phone but i might inquire about them. I got to see them after the xray was finished and the radiologist and Halil said they looked perfectly fine.

As you might have noticed, I am really reluctant about turning this into a diary, not only due to privacy reasons, but I have also witnessed how toxic and unpleasant people are on this forum and I am at a stage where I really do not need a barrage of negative comments.

As for any people reading this, if you legitimately have questions for me, you can shoot me a pm and we can talk through whatsapp where i will not be as reluctant as i am on here. Also, for any questions that are not very personal, feel free to ask here.

[ghkid2019]

Once you get near the limits, every cm reduced makes a world of difference. This is for Tibias and not Femurs, but the difference between 6cm Tibias and 7cm Tibias is like night and day in terms of recovery and post op effects. It can go from a 7 month recovery to a years long recovery. Surely you can extrapolate that logic to the near upper limit for Femurs.

Now you have to decide if you'll be 100% fine with getting just 6 or 7cm versus the 8cm. Many people regret not going all the way.

[drxboom]

I will be operated by halil BUldu in a month, I think 7.5 cm will be safe.

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Yes you are very right. It is a hard decision to make. Do i risk it for the extra cm or 2 or do i go the safer route. However, this is something i have always wondered: Is it "easier" for my body to recover from 8cm since my legs are already relatively long (femurs are 50cm) than a person who has much shorter femurs?

Also, i believe i must take into account that there will be a discrepancy between how much i have lengthened and my actual height increase.

I am considering heavily stopping at 7cm maybe 7.5 to account for the discrepancy. What do you think about this?

From what i have gathered, with external LON there will always be a height loss after removing the frames.

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

I wish you the best of luck, drxboom. If you are worried about the surgery, you should not be. I was dreading the surgery a lot a couple weeks before i did it, but it is nowhere near as scary as it is made out to be. I am sure you will be 100% fine, Halil and his assistants will take great care of you. Remember to bring sandals or flip flops, wearing shoes turned out to be bad for the hotel transfer xD.

[drxboom]

Thank you. If I have a question, can I  send pm you?

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Yeah man i'll send you my whatsapp on pm and you can just send me a message whenever you want.

[a]

Hey,

It's my pleasure bro. I believe in you! You'll get through this.
Have you seen people in the hospital who were treated with Stryde? I know Buldu also offers stryde but I haven't seen anyone from him posting their experiences about Stryde here.

Best Regards

[ghkid2019]

However, this is something i have always wondered: Is it "easier" for my body to recover from 8cm since my legs are already relatively long (femurs are 50cm) than a person who has much shorter femurs?.

Yes, that is indeed true. Ironically it's safer for a 6'0 person to get LL than a 5'0 person to get LL, since we want to reduce the % increase from the original bone length. A 5'0 guy gaining 3 inches stretches more (percentage wise) of his bone than a 6'0 guy gaining 3 inches. The taller you originally were, the safer this is and the more length you can do.

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Hey man,

I'm sorry but i don't believe i have met any Stryde patients. All i know is Halil does a ton of them but his patients do not know of the forum, they are mostly turkish.

[more]

Hi there are some points and factors about femur LON
1- knee flexion : Take it seriously if you can't bend your legs in full ROM , This is a RED FLAG
2- 5 cm is the safest
3-You will never get 100% lengthening , I mean if you did 3 cm distraction You will get 2.6 cm ( most probably) .

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Thanks for your reply,

My knee flexion is 100 degrees and improving every day so i do not worry about it at all. And yeah, i guess 2-5 cm is the safest but i would never undergo this surgery for such a measly increase. My question was how big the difference between 8 and 7/6.5cm. I will try to take into account for the height loss

[m7liam]

How many weeks in are you?

I’m 3.5 weeks post op and I’m about 160 degrees on left leg but only 145 degrees on right leg in terms of flexion

[more]

How many weeks in are you?

I’m 3.5 weeks post op and I’m about 160 degrees on left leg but only 145 degrees on right leg in terms of flexion

Who measured You knee bending?

normal knee bending is 135 to 140°

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

I'm around 4 weeks post op

Full flexion is defined as 130-140° so if you have 160 and 145 (?) you are definitely fine.

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

I know normal flexion is 130-140° and i am every day getting closer to that. It's highly rare to regain full knee flexion immediately after LON Femur. It is highly dependent on your physical therapy during lengthening which is getting better every day in my case. I measured the degrees myself through pictures

[a]

Hey,

How are you feeling bro? Are there any problems going on? I hope you are doing fine.

[ghkid2019]

How many weeks in are you?

I’m 3.5 weeks post op and I’m about 160 degrees on left leg but only 145 degrees on right leg in terms of flexion

Straight legs are 0°.  You measure from 0 upwards, not 180 downwards. No one has 160 degrees knee flexion No one has 160° knee flexion after a leg lengthening. I didnt even do lengthening and I don't even have anywhere near that range. That's very flexible levels. You're measuring it wrong.

Higher the range, the better

[llendpoint]

No one has 160 degrees knee flexion, especially after a leg lengthening.

Really, what about people who actually can touch their back with their sole/toes when they bend their knee?

[ghkid2019]

Really, what about people who actually can touch their back with their sole/toes when they bend their knee?

Yeah, that would probably be at 160 or a bit close. 160 is achievable, so 'no one' is not accurate. You need to have skinny calves and thighs though, and be pretty darn flexible

[a]

I think I can do it wth?

Can you lead me to a picture where the 160 degrees knee bending is performed? I couldn't find it.

[ghkid2019]

I think I can do it wth?

Can you lead me to a picture where the 160 degrees knee bending is performed? I couldn't find it.

It's uncommon, but I'm sure you can do it and plenty can. It just requires flexibility and being somewhat skinny on the legs. It's called a heel sit

[Bingy]

Sounds like you're doing great!

For me, it's been 2 and a half weeks since I had the surgery (LON, femurs) and I'm a little concerned about my ROM. I'm currently at 80° flex and 10° extension. It's worrying because I used to be very flexible...

Can I ask whether you have continued to improve or has your flexibility decreased as you've lengthened? Also, do you have any advice for someone like me in the early stages of the distraction period (e.g. are there any particular exercises that you feel might help recover ROM at a faster rate)?

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Hello fellow femur LON brother,

I really don’t think you should worry. From what i’ve heard from my physiotherapist who has done PT with a bunch of LON femur patients, 80 degree flexion and 10 degree extension is more than acceptable for someone at your stage. For now you need to do AGGRESSIVE physical therapy every day focusing on stretching your quads and hamstrings. My progress has continued steady even though lengthening has increased. However, i do notice that progress requires a bit more work. I am now at 5.5/6cm and everything is going great, i can walk unassisted now.

As the advice, i really think you should focus on strengthening your quads and getting the flexibility back in your muscles. My walking got progressively better as my quads got stronger and more mobile to the point i can now walk unasissted. I highly reccomend to try transitioning to crutches instead of the walker as soon as you are able to. The crutches allow you to weight bear more and also work on your balance.

I made a video very early in my journey on an exercise that has helped me a lot with my quadricep flexibility and knee flexion. As you can see in the video, i am doing seated knee flexion while using a towel to wrap around my leg so i can pull my foot closer, thus getting a much greater stretch than what i would get without it. I hope you understand what i mean. This video was around 2 weeks post op aswell. Link:  https://streamable.com/nqrsu2

[Bingy]

Hello fellow femur LON brother,

I really don’t think you should worry. From what i’ve heard from my physiotherapist who has done PT with a bunch of LON femur patients, 80 degree flexion and 10 degree extension is more than acceptable for someone at your stage. For now you need to do AGGRESSIVE physical therapy every day focusing on stretching your quads and hamstrings. My progress has continued steady even though lengthening has increased. However, i do notice that progress requires a bit more work. I am now at 5.5/6cm and everything is going great, i can walk unassisted now.

As the advice, i really think you should focus on strengthening your quads and getting the flexibility back in your muscles. My walking got progressively better as my quads got stronger and more mobile to the point i can now walk unasissted. I highly reccomend to try transitioning to crutches instead of the walker as soon as you are able to. The crutches allow you to weight bear more and also work on your balance.

I made a video very early in my journey on an exercise that has helped me a lot with my quadricep flexibility and knee flexion. As you can see in the video, i am doing seated knee flexion while using a towel to wrap around my leg so i can pull my foot closer, thus getting a much greater stretch than what i would get without it. I hope you understand what i mean. This video was around 2 weeks post op aswell. Link:  https://streamable.com/nqrsu2

Thanks for sharing the video, that's really helpful!

Unfortunately the pain in the pinsites on my knees has gotten so bad in the last few days that it hurts to move even a little bit. That hasn't stopped me from doing daily physio and massaging affected areas, but it feels like my ROM is getting worse and not better right now.

Doctors say that my pins are clean and not infected, but for some reason they hurt like hell (probably because they opened up the wounds around the pins too much during surgery - they're huge and still weep even 3 weeks post op). Don't suppose you also experienced pinsite pain that has been restrictive to your movement?

[lolwhyamidoingthis]

Hi Bingy,

I 100% have experienced the same as you. I was having pin site pains and i was convinced that i had an infection, but alas, after inspection by nurses and my doctor, it was no infection. After my first x-ray after i started lengthening my doctor noticed my consolidation was too fast, therefore i had to increase lengthening to 1.5mm for a couple days. The increase in lengthening really increased my pin site pain for some reason.

You should speak with your doctor. The only thing that helped my pin site pain was to stop lengthening for a day or two until it cleared up. It is truly HORRIBLE to have bad pains in your pin sites when you are doing externals on femur. I really feel your pain there my friend. My doctor said that activity should be reduced when your pin sites are doing badly.

And also, when my pin site pain got worse, my movements definitely got worse. I suppose the pain is due to microtearing in the wounds.. As long as it is not an infection it should not be dangerous, but it is REALLY frustrating. If i were you, i would really focus on letting your pin sites recover before you continue with any aggressive physio.

Good luck my friend, i was in the exact same situation as you and it got so much better after i stopped lengthening for a day or two. Are you lengthening more than 1mm per day?

[Bingy]

Hi Bingy,

I 100% have experienced the same as you. I was having pin site pains and i was convinced that i had an infection, but alas, after inspection by nurses and my doctor, it was no infection. After my first x-ray after i started lengthening my doctor noticed my consolidation was too fast, therefore i had to increase lengthening to 1.5mm for a couple days. The increase in lengthening really increased my pin site pain for some reason.

You should speak with your doctor. The only thing that helped my pin site pain was to stop lengthening for a day or two until it cleared up. It is truly HORRIBLE to have bad pains in your pin sites when you are doing externals on femur. I really feel your pain there my friend. My doctor said that activity should be reduced when your pin sites are doing badly.

And also, when my pin site pain got worse, my movements definitely got worse. I suppose the pain is due to microtearing in the wounds.. As long as it is not an infection it should not be dangerous, but it is REALLY frustrating. If i were you, i would really focus on letting your pin sites recover before you continue with any aggressive physio.

Good luck my friend, i was in the exact same situation as you and it got so much better after i stopped lengthening for a day or two. Are you lengthening more than 1mm per day?

Still on 1mm per day. Pinsites are feeling a bit better but still sensitive to movement. Pain meds aren't really working so I'm trying shock therapy with a Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) device.

It's crazy how much of a battle every single day is right now. I just hope it gets better and not worse. Glad to hear you're doing well though. Keep up the good work!