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[MajinVegeta]

WARNING: TOPIC INCLUDES SUICIDAL IDEATION

I really dont want to trigger anyone struggling, so please click off if you don't want to see that topic.  I want to preface this with saying this is my battle, it does not need to be yours.  If you are feeling the same way as me, please reach out for help.  Dont be like me.

With that out of the way, I'm just gonna be upfront.  I'm 5'6 (my medical paperwork says 5'7", I dont know why but haven't bothered to measure myself in many, many years, too painful.) I lift weights a lot.  Has done nothing for me.  I go on a first date, never a second.  The only person I've been with for a significant time was 4'11, and women that small are rare, and even they want someone approaching 6'. My hatred of my body has resulted in attempted suicide, and frankly I'm thinking LL might be the only way I can escape a second attempt that I have much better planned out.  I just got back from yet another tinder date.
 My neurosis and dysmorphoa is beyond extreme.  I am 100% convinced that most of my failings in life in both love and profession is due to this disability, the only disability you can openly mock on television, in person, to someone's face, and no one bats an eye, in fact they usually laugh.  I'm hard of hearing too.  That's called a "disability".  People accommodate for it.  The difference between that and my height is so astronomically far away from each other I cannot over state it.  My hearing hasn't stopped me from anything.  My height is a problem every single day of my life in every single situation.  I refuse to get a mail order bride or prey on women in 3rd world counties, I'm just not going to do it.  This is kind of my last ditch effort.

I looked around for a comprehensive FAQ but didn't find one, but if I missed it, please link it to me and I'd be happy to read it. 
I'm hoping for 3".  I've read that the usual 1mm a day is detrimental and that .66mm a day is much safer and results in less complications.  After that, I'll be wearing 2 or 3" lifts.  Time is not an issue.  Physical pain during the procedure is not an issue.  My only issuse are that I'm afraid lasting chronic pain, as I can tolerate pain if i know it will end at some point, never being able to run or do weighted squats again, or other complcations, as well as money, because as I've said, it's effected my work life because I dont get treated like an adult, so cost is another big factor.  I dont want to fk it up and get a bottom of the barrel "doctor" who will break your legs for you in an ally, stretch em out for you and send you on your way, but I also definitely cannot afford the exorbitant USA prices.

What is the safest method? I dont care how long it will take.  How cheaply can I do it without having to resort to a quack?  What does "full recovery" look like, and is it even possible?  Weight lifting means a lot to me, and it would be quite a loss if I can't do barbell squats anymore, but if I need to sacrifice that then fine.

[Masteryourlife]

First of all Its never pleasant to read such things ;you are not tall but at 5'6/5'7 you are not a manlet at all .

Also , I would not worry about any loss in the gym or athletic ability because if those are your true feelings , I don't see how anything can compare to that .
I wonder why you did not plan the surgery before even having those thoughts/drives ; there is a solution to your problem given also your starting height so ,I apologize if you will feel offended , but you should consult a psychologist while still keeping this surgery in your plans .
You did not tell your ethnicity ,your budget,your location or anything so it's hard to tell you what segment works best or what method is cheaper/more comfortable for you since we do not know anything.
Currently the cheapest (n not butcher) internal doctor its Giotikas in Greece ; I'm not a fan of him but given your situation he might be great for you (prices around 40 K for precice 2 ) or G nail if pain it's not a problem for you,since its weight bearing .
That is the cheapest n safest way to get 3 inches on you femurs since 3 inches in tibia are a disaster in most cases .
externals femurs are extremely painfull n risky ;external tibias are the other safe n cheap way to go n I would suggest dr.Lee for that since he does a ton of them .
Idk the price but I would believe around 20 k .

[MajinVegeta]

Im white, poor and in the US.  I know $20k is probably the absolute bottom of what it would cost, and thats about all ill be able to do.  I've been to psychologists, therapists, hospitals, groups, its all honestly worthless.  Not one of them understands.  I mention weight lifting because I know I'll fall into a similar depression if I can't go to the gym, its a VERY big part of my life.  Will upper body gains be hurt too?

Would a G nail be safer or would external tibias be safer?

[Masteryourlife]

Im white, poor and in the US.  I know $20k is probably the absolute bottom of what it would cost, and thats about all ill be able to do.  I've been to psychologists, therapists, hospitals, groups, its all honestly worthless.  Not one of them understands.  I mention weight lifting because I know I'll fall into a similar depression if I can't go to the gym, its a VERY big part of my life.  Will upper body gains be hurt too?

Would a G nail be safer or would external tibias be safer?

Upper body has nothing to do with ur legs so it will be effected just during distraction since it's not suggested or easy to train while lengthening since body is already recovering . In any case , in worst scenario u will just need a month or so after distraction to regain ur pre op upper body strength.
About g-nail n ex fixators , there are a lot of topics/diares here so look at them n figure out what works best for u and your situations time/pain/money/recovery wise .
If ur budget its max 20k tho , u have no options but externals so any other method would not work for u because of price .

[ReadRothbard]

Im white, poor and in the US.  I know $20k is probably the absolute bottom of what it would cost, and thats about all ill be able to do.  I've been to psychologists, therapists, hospitals, groups, its all honestly worthless.  Not one of them understands.  I mention weight lifting because I know I'll fall into a similar depression if I can't go to the gym, its a VERY big part of my life.  Will upper body gains be hurt too?

Would a G nail be safer or would external tibias be safer?

For tibias, externals are considered the best. And for that, I'd HEAVILY recommend either Dr. Catagni or Dr. Solomin & Kulesh (latter two are a team).

[Upgrade]

For tibias, externals are considered the best. And for that, I'd HEAVILY recommend either Dr. Catagni or Dr. Solomin & Kulesh (latter two are a team).

Internals are the best, even for the tibias.  The only reason people go with LON is because of the price tag.  Internals, such as Precise 2.2 is way better than LON for many reasons.

[Masteryourlife]

Internals are the best, even for the tibias.  The only reason people go with LON is because of the price tag.  Internals, such as Precise 2.2 is way better than LON for many reasons.

Internal tibias leads to permanent knee pain so idk what u talking about right now .

[ReadRothbard]

Internals are the best, even for the tibias.  The only reason people go with LON is because of the price tag.  Internals, such as Precise 2.2 is way better than LON for many reasons.

No, internal tibias can lead to knee pain. Externals are best and also avoid the issue of deep bone infection.

[Upgrade]

If internals leads to permanent knee pains, then so will the externals except for pure externals.  LON and LATN both install internal nails just like any other internal nails. 

According to research, knee pains can occur because of poor surgical performance, and misalignment of the bones.

Correct me if I am wrong.

[ReadRothbard]

I'm talking about pure externals.

[Upgrade]

I'm talking about pure externals.

Pure externals may be the best; you still have pins ripping thru your muscles.  Pure externals are good when you tolerate 9 to 12 months of external fixations.  If you don't mind the scars, the chance of infections, can't sleep on your side (many patients complained about not being able to sleep on their side with externals), and have metal pin ripping your muscle apart for many months.  Then check out pure external.

[silverlining]

External has higher risk of bone infection. Could you please clarify on the knee pain risk of doing internal? Do you have any studies?

[ReadRothbard]

Pure externals may be the best; you still have pins ripping thru your muscles.  Pure externals are good when you tolerate 9 to 12 months of external fixations.  If you don't mind the scars, the chance of infections, can't sleep on your side (many patients complained about not being able to sleep on their side with externals), and have metal pin ripping your muscle apart for many months.  Then check out pure external.

Correct, you'll have pins sticking through your muscles. Also, it's typically about 8-9 months unless you're doing a very large amount of lengthening. As for sleeping on my side, I've only ever slept on my back, so I can't emphasize.

When it comes to infections, externals are much safer and only really result in pin site infections.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

The only person I've been with for a significant time was 4'11, and women that small are rare, and even they want someone approaching 6'.

Yep.  Dad's 6'1, mom's 4'11.  Guess why I'm here.

I refuse to get a mail order bride or prey on women in 3rd world counties, I'm just not going to do it.  This is kind of my last ditch effort.

Usually the guy ends up being the prey in that situation, so that's for the best.

I'm hoping for 3".  I've read that the usual 1mm a day is detrimental and that .66mm a day is much safer and results in less complications.

It's not a decision for the patient to make.  It depends on your rate of bone healing.  You have to keep stretching them apart fast enough to stop them from prematurely consolidating.  I started out doing .66mm and ended doing 1.33mm per day.

After that, I'll be wearing 2 or 3" lifts.  Time is not an issue.  Physical pain during the procedure is not an issue.  My only issuse are that I'm afraid lasting chronic pain, as I can tolerate pain if i know it will end at some point, never being able to run or do weighted squats again, or other complcations, as well as money because as I've said, it's effected my work life because I dont get treated like an adult, so cost is another big factor.  I dont want to fk it up and get a bottom of the barrel "doctor" who will break your legs for you in an ally, stretch em out for you and send you on your way, but I also definitely cannot afford the exorbitant USA prices.

You sound like me in 2007.  But I know from experience that average height is plenty.  I think your life will improve significantly and you won't need lifts to have a good life at 5'9 - 5'10.

What is the safest method? I dont care how long it will take.  How cheaply can I do it without having to resort to a quack?  What does "full recovery" look like, and is it even possible?  Weight lifting means a lot to me, and it would be quite a loss if I can't do barbell squats anymore, but if I need to sacrifice that then fine.

The safest method is pure external tibias with Ilizarov frames, although not everyone can even get to 3" through that method.  I did it but now have exertional compartment syndrome in my tibialis anterior muscles due to the change in biomechanics affecting my walk.  Even just walking became a tough workout for those muscles.  They got huge and I had to get fasciotomy surgery to treat the condition.  They still are huge.  Great surgical treatment for bird legs.

You can almost definitely get 3" on femurs, but external femur lengthening is extremely painful and damaging to surrounding tissues, leaves big scars, and is generally discouraged.

You'll be wearing fixators for about nine months for 3" if you go for pure externals.  If you do LON or LATN you can get out of the fixators as soon as you're done lengthening and then consolidate while an internal nail holds your leg together.  These two will be your only options at 20K.  Internal nails cost about that much to the doctor just to buy from the manufacturers, and there aren't cheap 3rd world internal nails.  Several of us in Beijing tried to convince Professor Xia to make a Chinese knock-off ISKD but he didn't want to.

Full recovery means slightly worse balance and agility due to altered biomechanics.  You can still hit the gym but squats will be harder with longer femurs.  Elongated tibias don't affect that as much because they remain mostly vertical during the rep.  But at 5'10 I stopped caring about being muscular.  I got rid of my home gym about a year after LL.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Pins do not go through your muscles with external tibias.  There are enough "skin-and-bone" spots on your lower legs to install them without that.

[ReadRothbard]

Yep.  Dad's 6'1, mom's 4'11.  Guess why I'm here.

Usually the guy ends up being the prey in that situation, so that's for the best.

It's not a decision for the patient to make.  It depends on your rate of bone healing.  You have to keep stretching them apart fast enough to stop them from prematurely consolidating.  I started out doing .66mm and ended doing 1.33mm per day.

You sound like me in 2007.  But I know from experience that average height is plenty.  I think your life will improve significantly and you won't need lifts to have a good life at 5'9 - 5'10.

The safest method is pure external tibias with Ilizarov frames, although not everyone can even get to 3" through that method.  I did it but now have exertional compartment syndrome in my tibialis anterior muscles due to the change in biomechanics affecting my walk.  Even just walking became a tough workout for those muscles.  They got huge and I had to get fasciotomy surgery to treat the condition.  They still are huge.  Great surgical treatment for bird legs.

You can almost definitely get 3" on femurs, but external femur lengthening is extremely painful and damaging to surrounding tissues, leaves big scars, and is generally discouraged.

You'll be wearing fixators for about nine months for 3" if you go for pure externals.  If you do LON or LATN you can get out of the fixators as soon as you're done lengthening and then consolidate while an internal nail holds your leg together.  These two will be your only options at 20K.  Internal nails cost about that much to the doctor just to buy from the manufacturers, and there aren't cheap 3rd world internal nails.  Several of us in Beijing tried to convince Professor Xia to make a Chinese knock-off ISKD but he didn't want to.

Full recovery means slightly worse balance and agility due to altered biomechanics.  You can still hit the gym but squats will be harder with longer femurs.  Elongated tibias don't affect that as much because they remain mostly vertical during the rep.  But at 5'10 I stopped caring about being muscular.  I got rid of my home gym about a year after LL.

I've heard about people's leg muscles getting HUGE after leg lengthening. Nice to see that it's apparently a real thing.