I have been looking for best way to lengthen 7cm on tibias for some time now. Currently 174cm.
My main concern is time away from my job, girlfriend and dog. I didn’t want to spend 3 - 6 months in a foreign country. So when I heard betz institute was doing internal weighty bearings nails that only required 3 weeks in Germany then can fly back to my country (Australia) and do the lengthening from there. Plus the nail is weight bearing so I can walk around immediately with crutches and I can still go back into my office and make up an excuse for the crutches to work / friends / gf.
This sounded like an awesome solution. I heard then they have issues in the past with broken nails but when I asked them about it they have upgraded their materials since and no breakages in the last 7 years as a result of this.
The only thing I am worried about is non union as unlike Stryde there is not a way to reverse the direction of lengthening so I am quite worried about this as if I get crippled from this surgery I would probably consider killing myself / definitely do not want that (not that I am suicidal).
I have been thinking about this surgery for a long time , in fact I even flew to Russia several years ago to get external fixatives but chickens out due to length of time away and came back.
I need your advice - should I get this surgery , is there anything I’m missing and is anything above a lie from betz. Can someone help calm me re non union and is it better for me to wait for Stryde 2 as this is reversible direction.
Anyone who has done the surgery with betz in last 7 years would appreciate you reaching out to me so I can talk - thanks very much.