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[HopeGrowing]

Hello,

i have decided to consult Prof. Dr. Ghassan Salameh and Dr. Schmidt in Frankfurt am Main in Germany to do the tibia leg lengthening surgery.

I have already met with Dr. Met Schmidt in his orthopedics. He said the operation would cost 22,000 euros and my legs would lengthen by 0.8 to 1 millimeter per day. After about 3 months I could get 8 cm taller. More than 8 cm would not be good because otherwise you get problems.

I am 162 cm tall and thanks to the operation I would be 170 cm. I live in Frankfurt am Main and I think this is the best solution for me.

Do you know Dr. Salameh and Dr. Schmidt? I haven't read anything problematic about them in this forum.

What if you do the operation in Turkey? I think livelifetaller by Dr. Buldu is dubious because they advertise too much and increase the patients' height by more than 8 cm, which is not good for the legs.

What do you think of Prof. Dr. Yuksel Yurttas in Turkey? Do you have a better recommendation?

Sorry for my english guys.

Best regards
Ichdereine

[KrP1]

Be carefull with Turkey, i don't think that it is a good country to have surgery.

[boklecrt]

salameh uses fully weight bearing external frame, so you will be in frames up to an year. good news is that the frame is super slim and tiny therefore you can put baggy pants on top of it and lead a semi-normal life

they charge GERMAN standard prices, as that price, 22k, which used to be 25k is the german price, and not what he used to charge in syria - its understandable but for that wad of cash to have to do external for an year, i personally dont know if its a reasonable move

otherwise, expect top notch care from both of them

they do lengthen massive amounts, due to their usage of a modified achiles tendon release technique which the doctor calls "dissection". dont know any other details about this technique or if its proprietary to this doctor. i do know however that the doctor prides himself on 10-13 cm lengthenings as well as a patient who did back to back tibia for 16 cm lengthening(yes, that is 16 cm on just the tibia, i think he did 8 cm and then recovered and did another 8cm, dont quote me on that)

[ten]

Dr. Schmidt has very poor Google reviews. A lot of people say in the reviews that he is rude and dismissive. I can't imagine the scenario would be any better for an LL patient. Dr. Salameh might be nice, but he will not be your main point of contact after surgery.

Salamehfix seems relatively more comfortable, but it's not used by anyone else which is a bit strange even though Dr. Samaleh has brough it to Germany.

[ten]

otherwise, expect top notch care from both of them

How do you know this! Dr. Schmidt's practice has poor reviews as I wrote in my previous comment.

[boklecrt]

ive had like a 15 email correspondence with Salameh in which i was asking dumb ass questions(at the time i had low grasp of the procedure) and Salameh responded to every single one of them with a whole paragraph

that makes me believe he is a caring and responsible doctor

you need that type of doctor for your 1st surgery and for checkups and possible complications

Dr Schmidt is his auxiliary support doctor, he is his own entity but its great to know you have Salameh as your main physician and Schmidt as support. I read one diary Schmidt used to bring pizzas to the guesthouse apartment where they keep their patients

Overall you’re concentrating on Schmidt when you need to consider its Salameh who does your surgery and controls your process

I ended up not going to him because i chose LON but for pure external Salameh is a no brainer

About the device he uses, since its his own invention, it makes sense noone else is going to use it, because he puts his skills and reputation in that device. its even called literally SalamehFix


this isnt the guichet nail from that greedy butcher trying to make bank by selling it left and right

[ten]

ive had like a 15 email correspondence with Salameh in which i was asking dumb ass questions(at the time i had low grasp of the procedure) and Salameh responded to every single one of them with a whole paragraph

that makes me believe he is a caring and responsible doctor

you need that type of doctor for your 1st surgery and for checkups and possible complications

Dr Schmidt is his auxiliary support doctor, he is his own entity but its great to know you have Salameh as your main physician and Schmidt as support. I read one diary Schmidt used to bring pizzas to the guesthouse apartment where they keep their patients

Overall you’re concentrating on Schmidt when you need to consider its Salameh who does your surgery and controls your process

I ended up not going to him because i chose LON but for pure external Salameh is a no brainer

About the device he uses, since its his own invention, it makes sense noone else is going to use it, because he puts his skills and reputation in that device. its even called literally SalamehFix


this isnt the guichet nail from that greedy butcher trying to make bank by selling it left and right

Some things to consider

1. how much time does Dr. Salameh spend in Germany vs Syria?
2. if you have complications will email correspondence help? how long will you have to wait to get care?
3. does Dr. Schmidt also do surgeries? he is a qualified ortho surgeon with many years of experience. Will he just stand and watch all Salameh's surgeries even now? don't you think he would be doing surgeries now? they have been working together for over a decade I think. The pizza story you said must have that very old, amirite? I think Dr. Schmidt might be more involved now.
4. Salamehfix had a patent but that was years ago. I think if someone liked his idea and wanted to use lighter frames for patients it would be very easy to manufacture it wherever. Unlike Guichet nail which is a internal nail, Salamehfix is more about removing stuff from the already present Ilizarov or TSF frame.  I just don't understand why no one in the world has picked up this idea. It would give me confidence that it does not cause any malaignments due to the missing parts of the Ilizarov system if there was more peer involvement.
5. Not many patient experiences. It's hard to extrapolate aftercare based on how thorough the email responses were

But yeah if Dr. Salameh's involvment was better understood it might not be a bad idea overall. External tibias is relatively safe (as long as you don't get compartment syndrome).

[boklecrt]

Some things to consider

1. how much time does Dr. Salameh spend in Germany vs Syria?
2. if you have complications will email correspondence help? how long will you have to wait to get care?
3. does Dr. Schmidt also do surgeries? he is a qualified ortho surgeon with many years of experience. Will he just stand and watch all Salameh's surgeries even now? don't you think he would be doing surgeries now? they have been working together for over a decade I think. The pizza story you said must have that very old, amirite? I think Dr. Schmidt might be more involved now.
4. Salamehfix had a patent but that was years ago. I think if someone liked his idea and wanted to use lighter frames for patients it would be very easy to manufacture it wherever. Unlike Guichet nail which is a internal nail, Salamehfix is more about removing stuff from the already present Ilizarov or TSF frame.  I just don't understand why no one in the world has picked up this idea. It would give me confidence that it does not cause any malaignments due to the missing parts of the Ilizarov system if there was more peer involvement.
5. Not many patient experiences. It's hard to extrapolate aftercare based on how thorough the email responses were

But yeah if Dr. Salameh's involvment was better understood it might not be a bad idea overall. External tibias is relatively safe (as long as you don't get compartment syndrome).

salameh is a refugee from the syrian war, he immigrated with his family in germany in like 2011

i doubt you'd be put into emails, they'd give you their whatsapps so if something needs urgent care, you call them. every doctor in the world has an emergency line for stuff like that

otherwise what other complications? pin site infections need to be addressed within a day or 2 max when noticed, misalignments and non unions are caught in xrays only etc

here is what he told me of misalignments:

Glad to hear from you again, well my external Salamehfix was originally designed to do Simultaneous lengthening and correction of axial deviations abd it by self keep direct straight bone formation during lengthening, but if for any reason misalignment happens i can correct as the fixator Salamehfix includes hinges for correction of any misalignment so that i don't need LON for what? LON need more Surgeries  more risk and you have to disturb bone marrow and it limit knee motion .

as you see i asked him here if he can do LON for me, because I am worried about misalignment on externals, and psychologically is much better to me to know that the bone slides on the nail and keeps everything straight, he said he doesnt do LON


slim externals is nothing new, besides salameh, bagirov in moscow does slim illizarov, again his own modifications from the original illizarov. there are no photos online of bagirov's frame, but I met him and he showed me in person the frame, yes its slim BUT salamehfix is smaller than bagirov's

otherwise, illizarov is on its way out as a technology anyway, western docs do internals mainly, only asians, indians and turks do externals as a main technique because these populations are much poorer on average compared to the rich western nations


anyway, point being, if you want a fully external frame in a western country with western standard healthcare and hospitals, salameh is the top choice

[ten]

salameh is a refugee from the syrian war, he immigrated with his family in germany in like 2011

i doubt you'd be put into emails, they'd give you their whatsapps so if something needs urgent care, you call them. every doctor in the world has an emergency line for stuff like that

otherwise what other complications? pin site infections need to be addressed within a day or 2 max when noticed, misalignments and non unions are caught in xrays only etc

here is what he told me of misalignments:

as you see i asked him here if he can do LON for me, because I am worried about misalignment on externals, and psychologically is much better to me to know that the bone slides on the nail and keeps everything straight, he said he doesnt do LON


slim externals is nothing new, besides salameh, bagirov in moscow does slim illizarov, again his own modifications from the original illizarov. there are no photos online of bagirov's frame, but I met him and he showed me in person the frame, yes its slim BUT salamehfix is smaller than bagirov's

otherwise, illizarov is on its way out as a technology anyway, western docs do internals mainly, only asians, indians and turks do externals as a main technique because these populations are much poorer on average compared to the rich western nations


anyway, point being, if you want a fully external frame in a western country with western standard healthcare and hospitals, salameh is the top choice

OK I did not know Salameh lives there. It's strange that a doctor of his prominence doesn't have his own big clinic and works within Schmidth's setup.

you are right about externals being used in developing countries mainly. there is not much incentives to improve it anywhere else.

the main complications can be nerve damage, compartment syndrome (this is emergency) and nonunion (high chance for tibia). If Dr. Salameh will be around for follow ups and will be the THE surgeon then this might be a safe way.

[boklecrt]

write him an email, get a skype consultation, get your concerns addressed and questions answered

looking forward to your diary!

[HopeGrowing]

Update!!!

I will not have leg lengthening surgery with this doctor.  I have spoken to his patients and they are all dissatisfied and would not recommend this operation to anyone. Money is saved everywhere and there is no physical therapy after the operation. Patients are on their own with fixators for up to 12 months after the operation! There is almost no follow-up examination.

So watch out folks!