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[Stand taller]

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. After first finding out about this procedure back in 2016, I knew this was something I wanted to do. But like other things "life just happened" and time passed by. And then there is the whole saving up the funds that takes some time. Here we are though, six years later and I am about to change my life forever.

I currently stand at 165cm tall, and my X-rays look very good. If possible we will 11-12cm. If everything works out fine, and my body copes with lengthening well I may stand at as much as 176-177cm tall in four to five months. Wish me luck!

I'm now just sitting here waiting for Dr Betz to bring me into the surgery room.

[Stretch]

Congratulations!

Interested to hear how you will manage with the “clicking” process.

All the best.

[TheGambitKing]

is it possible to go back with betzbone and gnail? Likeu can do with Precice

[canterk]

Hi Stand taller! Congratulations on getting the surgery. Just want to ask some questions. 11-12cm in just one lengthening period, how long will it take you to lengthen? Where are you from and how long are you staying in Germany? Did Betz give you a timeline for full recovery if you indeed do 12 cm? Thanks and well wishes!!

[Stand taller]

Day 2

Good morning!

Yesterday was surgery, and everything went well. Two hous after surgery I was rolled into my own room, and after another two hours Dr Betz came with some colleagues. With assistance from them I walked out of the room and around 5-6 meters down the hallway before I started to get nauseous. I am amazed that I could actually walk this soon after surgery.

Most of the evening and during the night I've slept. Pain levels have been close to none existent while laying bed  and totally manageable while walking on crutches to the toilet with help from the nurse. I only had to ask for one extra painmed around 02:30 form the nurse dude to pain (paintlevel around 3-4/10) so I could sleep.

This morning though I actually got out of bed, walked to the toilet on crutches, stod upright and peed (instead of sitting) washed my hands, walked back on crutches and got into bed all by myself! Pain is very manageable, and it is actually worse while moving on and out of bed - and NOT while walking. This is also the hardest  thing to do because to stiffness in my legs.

My only "issues" so far has been nauseousness while the general anesthesia was leaving my system around 18:00-22:00 yesterday. Today I am totally fine.

Dr Betx told me yesterday that the total length I can go because of my bones and anatomy is 11cm. When I actually get to 11cm there is a possibility to got an extra 0,5cm if everything is 100% fine. After surgery I already stand 0,5cm taller due to get bone separation while inserting the nail, and  this was the first thing I noticed while standing up. In my head I want to be 177cm tall because I will only be around 2cm below average where I live, but I think I will be more than fine standing at 176cm.

Either way the journey has begun and if everything goes as planned it should take me around four and a halg months to get there!

Stand Taller

[TheGambitKing]

How much Betz costs?

[bloggerdude]

please think about how you will look with 11cm longer femurs while sitting on a chair or in an airplane

[Stand taller]

How much Betz costs?

Betz is is 53700 Euros all included.

[Stand taller]

please think about how you will look with 11cm longer femurs while sitting on a chair or in an airplane

I actually measured how much room I would have with 11cm more on an airplane seat on my to Germany. I should have plenty. Luckily I have very short femurs, much shorter than my tibias. My proportions know are very poor and after going 11cm it will be very good and darn close to ideal.

[tallertree]

Everybody have different proportions ofc. But I also lengthened my femurs with Betz and did 9cm. While lengthening I had this euphoria about getting taller. But once reality kicked in I realized I had lengthened to much.

My sincere recommendation to you is to do maximum around 6cm. With a starting height of 165 you will be slightly above 170cm wich is a normal height for men all around the world, including the tallest countries. Not only will you become "normally" tall but your agility will likely remain close to as it was prior to LL. Your proportions will also remain fairly normal.

The biggest mistake people do when doing LL is focusing on numbers. Already in your first post i can tell that you have a "magical number" you want to reach, wich is to become above 175cm. But ask yourself, will your life really be that different with a final height of 173cm compared to 176cm? With 176cm you will become slightly taller but also much more limited in agility.

I was greedy. Don't do my mistake.

[bloggerdude]

I actually measured how much room I would have with 11cm more on an airplane seat on my to Germany. I should have plenty. Luckily I have very short femurs, much shorter than my tibias. My proportions know are very poor and after going 11cm it will be very good and darn close to ideal.

Please quantify it. What is the tibia to femur to torso ratio?

It's not about how much room you will have on an airplane seat (even 6'3" guys have room) but how it will look when you are sitting next to someone naturally 175cm.

[Masteryourlife]

Ugh...here we are again !
There is so much data n we still have those lenghtening goals in 2022 ..I wonder if they are real at times .
Good luck with ur journey , hope your mind will change trough the process .

[Achieverr]

better to keep it 7.5-8 cm proportion wise and functionality
you can use insoles in a later stage to get the 10 cm that you are aiming

[Stretch]

What are the opinions towards splitting the 10cm between the Femur and Tibia. Would this not be the most advantageous long term?

[Highest]

I actually measured how much room I would have with 11cm more on an airplane seat on my to Germany. I should have plenty. Luckily I have very short femurs, much shorter than my tibias. My proportions know are very poor and after going 11cm it will be very good and darn close to ideal.

Did you have birth defects or similar? It is pretty much unheard of for a normal person to have Tibias longer than femurs.

[Stretch]

Did you have birth defects or similar? It is pretty much unheard of for a normal person to have Tibias longer than femurs.

Just remembered another patient with Bezt who also explained he had a longer Tibia to Femur ratio, this conversation was held on Cyborg’s YouTube channel.

[Siegfried]

Hello Standtaller,

Congrats on the beginning of your journey. I myself pulled the trigger 3 months ago. I am/was (I am doing one leg at time) slightly above your height with 167cm. I'm am currently lengthening in Germany as well and have spoken with a few Orthopedists and Ll surgeons in Germany. All of them advised me to not go over the 6cm mark on femurs. My surgeon Dr. Koehne, explicitly advises all of his patients against going over the 6cm mark.

For this reason I am only going for 5cm on femurs, even if this means I will be missing out on a few cm. However, health is always more important than aesthetics and height. Always think long term with these kinds of major life decisions and please reconsider your goal of 11cm.

Betz, while being a very capable surgeon, is notorious for letting his patients overlengthen. One of his patients on this forum wants to shorten his femurs by 3-4cm after doing 11cms with him.

I have met another Betz patient personally, who did 10-11cm, and seen him limb, one year after surgery. Don't make the same mistake. 6-8cm is an incredible height difference as well.  You can always still do tibias at a later point in life.

[Highest]

Just remembered another patient with Bezt who also explained he had a longer Tibia to Femur ratio, this conversation was held on Cyborg’s YouTube channel.

So their natural ratio left them at a high risk of getting arthritis, talk about bad genetics.

[Stretch]

So their natural ratio left them at a high risk of getting arthritis, talk about bad genetics.

Are you referring to a greater T to F ratio as I believe there was an article discussing this posted on the forum but I’m not sure if there was a definitive conclusion?

Would be interesting to know if increasing the ratio even slightly may lead to these conditions later on.

[thankscience]

I believe the literature points out there seems to be a higher presence of arthritis for people who have a higher T to F ratio, likely due to the extra stress on the knee joints. There didn't seem to be any conclusive evidence of whether the inverse was true (ie. a higher F to T ratio). That said, it's always better to be cautious as I'm sure there is likely some effect to the body of having a very high F to T ratio.

[Stand taller]

Day Three

Yesterday I was a bit nauseous and actually threw up. The doctors said this was because of the general anesthesia from the surgery leaving my system. I also walked three times down the hallway and back on crutches, I'm guessing around 60-70m back and forth. I also accidentally clicked yesterday as well, one full click. It did not hurt or feel uncomfortable. In general I have very little pain. It was worst this morning before taking my morning dose of painkillers. The Doctor has also said that the pain is at its worse two to three days after surgery.

I seen people commenting this and that about what height I should go, and I will not engage in any discussions. I am not a doctor, you guys are not doctors so I'll let the professionals handle this. And so far it has been smooth sailing. If people get to negative or toxic here I will just delete this thread since my diary is meant to be something positive for me to share. If it gets negative, I will not continue.

On tuesday I will look at he X-rays with the doctor to measure the exact ratio. When it comes to body ratio I am not at all worried about this. When I sit next to friends who are around 177-178cm tall we have the same sitting height and also same tibia height. So adding 11cm to my femurs will improve my proportions dramatically.

[thankscience]

My post wasn't to discourage you at all. Certainly do what you feel is best!

I'm glad to hear you're doing well. I look forward to the updates 

[LegendKiller]

Just remembered another patient with Bezt who also explained he had a longer Tibia to Femur ratio, this conversation was held on Cyborg’s YouTube channel.

Yes this was me lol. I lengthened 10,5cm with betz back last year. I had way longer Tibias than femurs so I could pull it off. If your femurs are already quite long compared to your Tibias it will look really weird once you go over a certain amount of length.

[Stretch]

Yes this was me lol. I lengthened 10,5cm with betz back last year. I had way longer Tibias than femurs so I could pull it off. If your femurs are already quite long compared to your Tibias it will look really weird once you go over a certain amount of length.

Nice! You guys are fortunate to obtain theses Femur Lengths without looking weird.

[LegendKiller]

Nice! You guys are fortunate to obtain theses Femur Lengths without looking weird.

There's definitely a lot to be considered when deciding for how much length you want to obtain. Starting proportions are just one factor but to be fair a pretty important one. I personally would not have aimed for 10-11cm if my femur would have been already longer than my tibias.

[Stand taller]

Yes this was me lol. I lengthened 10,5cm with betz back last year. I had way longer Tibias than femurs so I could pull it off. If your femurs are already quite long compared to your Tibias it will look really weird once you go over a certain amount of length.

Don't remember but isn't normal tibia to femur ratio around 0,84? This means if your femurs and tibia are the same length you can lengthen femurs quite a bit before moving outside of this ratio.

How was you lengthening? How quickly were you able to walk about without crutches? What levels of paint did you have after surgery and while lengthening? For me while laying in bed its been from a 0/10 to around 2/10. And when walking with crutches around 0/10 to around 3/10.

[Siegfried]

Day Three

Yesterday I was a bit nauseous and actually threw up. The doctors said this was because of the general anesthesia from the surgery leaving my system. I also walked three times down the hallway and back on crutches, I'm guessing around 60-70m back and forth. I also accidentally clicked yesterday as well, one full click. It did not hurt or feel uncomfortable. In general I have very little pain. It was worst this morning before taking my morning dose of painkillers. The Doctor has also said that the pain is at its worse two to three days after surgery.

I seen people commenting this and that about what height I should go, and I will not engage in any discussions. I am not a doctor, you guys are not doctors so I'll let the professionals handle this. And so far it has been smooth sailing. If people get to negative or toxic here I will just delete this thread since my diary is meant to be something positive for me to share. If it gets negative, I will not continue.

On tuesday I will look at he X-rays with the doctor to measure the exact ratio. When it comes to body ratio I am not at all worried about this. When I sit next to friends who are around 177-178cm tall we have the same sitting height and also same tibia height. So adding 11cm to my femurs will improve my proportions dramatically.

There is a reason why the precise and stryde nail, which Dr. Paley himself co-designed, has a limit of 8cm. The new weightbearing synoste nail will have a limit of 7cm. It is because studies indicate that lengthening above 6-8cm lead to exponentially higher risks of medical problems down the road.

I agree neither of us are professionals or doctors. However, you should get a medical opinion from people other than Dr. Betz before you pursue that amount of length. You could email Dr. Paley for instance, I heard he usually replies. I understand that it might be more pleasing aesthetically and proportion wise in your case, but medically it is not recommended.

[LegendKiller]

Don't remember but isn't normal tibia to femur ratio around 0,84? This means if your femurs and tibia are the same length you can lengthen femurs quite a bit before moving outside of this ratio.

How was you lengthening? How quickly were you able to walk about without crutches? What levels of paint did you have after surgery and while lengthening? For me while laying in bed its been from a 0/10 to around 2/10. And when walking with crutches around 0/10 to around 3/10.

My tibias where 90% ratio to my femurs so way to long. That's why I lengthened that much.
pain levels after surgery where OK because of the opioid they gave me.
I was very disappointed with betz tho. Him not releasing my It band and also not even informing me on potential wide legs issue upfront caused me massive problems. I began walking approx. 7-8 months after surgery because I had to get my extremely tight ITB (which was not going back to normal on its own) released with another surgeon otherwise I would not be able to walk right now. Betz completely ignored my issues and even told me stop texting him because quote "he had other clients to answer to as well". If it wasn't for his unprofessional behavior I would have been able to walk maybe a month after I was done lengthing because my training was on point (so almost 5 months earlier than I did!). I talked about all this in detail in my interview with cyborg so feel free to watch it.
I don't regret LL it was the best decision of my life and my Dream but in hindsight I would not choose betz again. He was a major letdown and didn't care one bit about my wellbeing and I also heard the same from many of his other patients. If you really want to lengthen 10-11cm or even if it's just 7-8cm get a plan for getting your ITB released if it becomes necessary otherwise you will be fked and unable to walk normally like I was. Trust me. A lot of unforeseen issues can arise and betz unfortunately is a very careless surgeon. Don't wanna scare you just be aware... The worst time wasn't the lengthning itself for me but the months thereafter where I was unsure of when I'll be able to walk normally again. Betz did not care one bit and I had to get that fixed all by myself (Finding another surgeon, paying for another surgery etc.)
I hope your journey goes well man and you are being taken care of better than I was. Make smart decisions along the way and stay ahead as best as you can.

[Stand taller]

Day 7

It's now been a week since surgery and things are improving every day. I checked out of the hospital today and moved into a large and luxurious flat provided by Dr Betz and his colleagues. There is something exhausting mentally about living in a hospital that makes you feel "sick". Most of the days in the hospital have been exactly the same, so not much to write about. Been doing physio twice a day, which has been good. The worst thing has been the food at the hospital in Freiburg. One warm meal a day, and the rest of the meals with dry and lifeless bread... Now I have a stocked fridge and can order meals from Lieverando (Just eat) that Dr Betz pays for.

Me and one of the doctors also went into town today so I could shop some more sweat pants. I walked around 1km on crutches. Was really nice to get outside and breathe some fresh air. But after that distance I was pretty exhausted.

Pain levels have mostly been very low, but I have experienced some local pain here and there for shorter periods of time though. Nothing much to complain about. I am looking forward to spend the next week in this lovely and spacious flat, it's so serene here compared to the hospital. My mental health is much improved after just an hour here.

I have had around six accidental clicks so far, and we should start clicking tomorrow or Sunday. Hope that goes well!

[eric.cartman]

Congrats on getting surgery! You already have the biggest step behind you. I had my surgery with Betz in October and will finish lengthening soon. Accidental clicks are normal - I had many during the first two weeks but it stops once the legs get stronger.

The food is definitely the worst part in that hospital - you can indicate your preference to the kitchen staff for breakfast and lunch but dinner is just bad. I ordered lieferando pretty much every evening. Good luck with clicking, I'm sure it will go well. Betz is great surgeon and you're in good hands!

[Stand taller]

Day 8

The first night in the flat provided by Dr Betz and his colleagues was great. I had the best night of sleep since the surgery, and the peace and quiet here alongside the better food has improved the way I feel immensely. I have very little to no pain, and I am just much more relaxed. Apparently I am the first patient using this accommodation, so I feel very lucky indeed. I've actually had the mental strength to do some work, and that says a lot.

Tomorrow we start clicking, so I can't wait to start the actual lengthening procedure!