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[theuprising]

It was tall who had to do tibia surgery as he
had made his femurs too long with dr betz, I believe
he lengthened 11cm femur and then had to do 6.5 cm
in tibias to prevent arthritis in his knees.
After this he advocated only doing a max of 7.5 cm on any
limb segment.

I will have to check with the doctor I do LL with thanks for
clearing up what ratio not to pass. I find it hard to believe some
people did 10cm on tibia and would imagine that there would
be serious recovery problems as a result.

It makes me glad to know someone with a similar height and weight
did this surgery to the lengthening limits I want to still has good proportions
and is really enjoying his new life. Sucks about that girl hope you have
found someone better.

[just4cm]

Hello everyone! I am new to this forum even I am visiting it for a while, just like old forum. U can't imagine how grateful I'm to all your posts and writings. Just to introduce myself shortly. I'm 26, male, 169cm. As my nickname says all I want is 4cm added to my height.

I contacted dr. Betz (he replied but it's sooo expensive - 50 000 euros and as I can see from others he doesn't do his job properly even for that price). I also read from your posts that dr. Guichet is number one in setting the price so I have to remove him from my list. The third one who is interesting to me is dr. Mitkovic from Serbia. I am Croatian so we are neighbours and it seems as a best option if I sum all the things written about him on forums; price, experience, great results.

Is there any patient here on LL forum who passed everything from operation to back-to-normal-life phase? If there is someone could he upload photos and write smth about it? Btw, I am an athlete - small one but still an athlete and as I said all I want is 4cm more to my height. What do u think, should I do it on femurs or tibias? If I go with dr. Mitkovic should I take external or internal method? I won't hurry going back home and for sure I won't lift heavy weighs immediately after the surgery so I'll take time for recovering.

I know all of u answered these type of questions hundreds of time but remember u were LL noob just like me so please help me.

Once again ty so much for sharing your  experience.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

I'm finished with LL and currently writing all about it.  It's not even half finished yet, but my LL experience is here:

http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=84.0

My 1st choice was external tibiae with Dr. Mitkovic.  His 9300 Euro fee is very reasonable for Serbia.  Everything there is approximately 1/4 the price of the US so he's definitely not jacking up his prices to get extra money from foreigners.  Externals are cheaper and less invasive so that's why they were my choice, but you can live a more normal life while lengthening with intenrals.

[just4cm]

Hi Medium. I already read every single word u wrote and I'm impressed as everyone is. Ty for your time and advices. I sent an e-mail two days ago to dr. Mitkovic but he didn't respond yet. I hope he still does cosmetic LL surgeries and I wrote to him if it is necessary I'll come to Serbia for consultation.

Medium are u still in contact with that guy called Jungle u met in Serbia? How is he doing? Is there any photo of before and after? I mean even if I want to gain some extra cm I also don't want to ruin my body by someone who doesn't care about his patients (like that idiot from Ukraine who mutilated poor guy from Canada; I read about it on old forum). Is it ok to be a bit more cautious than usual?

Do u think dr. Mitkovic will answer my mail? Ty.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Dr. Mitkovic still does cosmetic LL but only a limited number of cases per year.  He didn't reply to several of my emails in 2007 but when I got there, he remembered what I'd written.  If you can go to Serbia, I think that's definitely the best way to get his attention since he gets a lot of emails and doesn't respond to most of them.

I'm not in contact with Jungle anymore.  He and I had a fight on old forum  after I left Serbia.  Jungle posted quite a few pics of himself on old forum  that are probably still in his diary.  Dr. Mitkovic cares about his patients and has become more conservative after dealing with crazy patients like Serbtips and Jungle.  The maximum gains he's offering are lower and the number of people he takes is fewer than in the past.

[just4cm]

Great! U r right, I have to go to Nis and talk to him personally and see what he can do with my legs

Btw, I've played soccer for 19 years and my legs go a bit like letter "o". Could that present a problem in lengthening my legs?
What will take more time to recover? External, internal? Tibias, femurs?

Ty.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Your legs could probably be straightened in addition to the lengthening; you should ask the doctor about it.  I don't know which surgery gives you the fastest recovery time.

[Doflamingo]

Do you think 5-6cm in tibias (LON) is possible in 2-3 months?

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Maybe, if you have no complications, 5cm in 3 months could be done.  But you'll probably have complications like everyone does.

[Wannabegiant]

I dont know if you can answer this question since I think you did the whole lengthening phase at the clinic, but id like to get your input still

But my visa wont last for the entire lengthening phase assuming i lengthen 1 mm/day, because my health insurance only lasted until the first of april and I didnt have time to renew it for the visa application.

However the Doctor has told me that they encourage lengthening at home in their program, after minimum 5 days at the hospital after surgery.

I intend to stay for most of the lengthening phase but some of it i will have to lengthen at home unless i go faster than 1 mm/day which might be too risky.

My question then is, if you lengthen at home, and the number of turns is unreliable for how much length you gain (due to pinbending even though pinbending happens mostly at the beginning of Lengthening phase) then i would need to schedule an x.ray with another ortopedic in my homecountry.

But lets say I count the number of turns I need so i know which day i should be at my desired height, then i would have to have my x-ray very close to that date so i can confirm it, because otherwise i risk premature consolidation if i stop turning and then if i didnt lengthen enough i cant compensate for it anymore since im in my homecountry.

I realize i can measure my standing height but even that is unreliable because of spine compression, better to measure the gap through x-ray. How much risk is there for premature consolidation? If i follow a schedule of turning that my doctor gives me, then it shouldnt start to consolidate until i stop turning right? also how long after i stop turning until it will start to consolidate and i cant turn more?

I realize that these are questions i will have to ask my doctor when i get there, but its still worth a try to ask here  thank you in any case.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

It'll take months after you're done turning before your bones will consolidate.  Just be sure to get regular x-rays and send them to your doctor, because that's how almost every LL problem is identified.

[Wannabegiant]

It'll take months after you're done turning before your bones will consolidate.  Just be sure to get regular x-rays and send them to your doctor, because that's how almost every LL problem is identified.

Yeah that is true but how come the risk of premature consolidation is quite common during lengthening phase if that is the case? (maybe im mistaken and its not common, but still it has happened for some patients) Im afraid that will happen if i lengthen away from the clinic, as the doctor wont be available to solve the problem 

And also non union is a risk but i guess that is even less likely to happen, as i will take supplements and the fact that im young so should heal callus faster than average.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

The closer together the bone segments are, the quicker they'll consolidate.  You're not going to get premature consolidation at the end when you have a big gap that needs to fill in.  It happens at the beginning when people have a small gap.

[Wannabegiant]

The closer together the bone segments are, the quicker they'll consolidate.  You're not going to get premature consolidation at the end when you have a big gap that needs to fill in.  It happens at the beginning when people have a small gap.

Okey sounds good  Then overall is your opinion about lengthening at home (at least the last part of the lengthening phase) that it is quite safe to do?

Thank you for all the info!

[OverrideYouGenetics]

Do you, after 7 years, still have knee pain? on what scale is it (1-10)

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Okey sounds good  Then overall is your opinion about lengthening at home (at least the last part of the lengthening phase) that it is quite safe to do?

Thank you for all the info!

Personally I wouldn't do it since complications could happen at any time, and periodic adjustments need to be made to the fixators.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Do you, after 7 years, still have knee pain? on what scale is it (1-10)

Yes, my knees still bother me sometimes.  It ranges from 0-4 depending on what I'm doing.  Kneeling is the worst.

[Wannabegiant]

Personally I wouldn't do it since complications could happen at any time, and periodic adjustments need to be made to the fixators.

With complications you mean like severe pain and infections? 

And what do you mean with periodic adjustments? If that is necessary why would they even allow patients to lengthen at home?   

[Medium Drink Of Water]

With complications you mean like severe pain and infections? 

And what do you mean with periodic adjustments? If that is necessary why would they even allow patients to lengthen at home?   

Adjustments are needed if you develop a discrepancy between your gap sizes, or if your legs become misaligned.  Those can be fixed at the end but it's easier to nip them in the bud.

[onedayillgrow]

Hi i'm sorry people, i seem to be having a big confusion here, Did Apo gain 6 inches on just his TIBS? OR did he like break his 6 inch gain into femur + tibs? I mean, i think i just red on reddit that he had it done on just his tibs?!

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Hi i'm sorry people, i seem to be having a big confusion here, Did Apo gain 6 inches on just his TIBS? OR did he like break his 6 inch gain into femur + tibs? I mean, i think i just red on reddit that he had it done on just his tibs?!

No, he didn't do 6 inches on his tibiae alone.

[onedayillgrow]

No, he didn't do 6 inches on his tibiae alone.

Oh i see, so could someone please tell me exactly what he got?

[OverrideYouGenetics]

Oh i see, so could someone please tell me exactly what he got?

11 cm on tibs
9.9 cm on femur

total around 21 cm.

[onedayillgrow]

11 cm on tibs
9.9 cm on femur

total around 21 cm.

Oh right Thank you very much. Amm one question, how come he did tibiae lengthening more than femurs?

[mediocre]

Proportion (his own proportion).

Oh right Thank you very much. Amm one question, how come he did tibiae lengthening more than femurs?

[Disobedient]

hi again

I have question, and yes it is again about the callus

my last x-ray shows that the callus in my both tibia better than the femurs
when I asked the Dr he said cuz the femur has a lot of muscles that's why in the x-ray it wont show much callus, but both your tibia and femur has the same amount of the callus.

2days later I asked Dr Rah (the one who operated the surgery for me), and he said I have kind of poor callus in the femurs , acctaully he said (not good as it is in the tibia), and that may happened during  fixing the misalignment, according to him it disturbed the callus .

so which one of them should I believe, is true that fixing the misalignment  causes losing some callus?
if that the case then when it is the best time to fix the misalignment?

[Medium Drink Of Water]

With the Ilizarov frames I wore, misalignments were fixed right when they occurred and were still small, so it didn't require a big procedure.  Maybe that wasn't possible with your monorail frames, or maybe your doctor was lazy and didn't check you for misalignments.

I don't know much about x-rays or disturbing the callus, so I don't know why your femur callus is appearing faintly in the x-rays.

[just4cm]

hi again

I have question, and yes it is again about the callus

my last x-ray shows that the callus in my both tibia better than the femurs
when I asked the Dr he said cuz the femur has a lot of muscles that's why in the x-ray it wont show much callus, but both your tibia and femur has the same amount of the callus.

2days later I asked Dr Rah (the one who operated the surgery for me), and he said I have kind of poor callus in the femurs , acctaully he said (not good as it is in the tibia), and that may happened during  fixing the misalignment, according to him it disturbed the callus .

so which one of them should I believe, is true that fixing the misalignment  causes losing some callus?
if that the case then when it is the best time to fix the misalignment?

Why don't u call those two drs and ask them in front of u about that? For the money u are paying and for the pain u r suffering call those two bastards and tell them not to phuck with u anymore.

I get really upset when I read about Indian doctors saying eveything is ok. Nothing is ok, bring your phucking ass to patients room and give him/her advice and care he/she deserves.

Even u paid that much money for it, u have to fight for your health and good outcome of the operation...

[panda]

Hi MDW,
Do you happen to know what the brand of the Beijing nails is?
I was a 2013 patient and I am having a lot of issues with my legs since the operation. I need the information for my orthopedic surgeon, but they would not give me the information even though Ronne told me before I could get the information whenever I need it. It has been very frustrating, I've been asking for almost 2 months but she just kept me going in circles.
 

[Medium Drink Of Water]

They used Orthofix nails when I was a patient.  Hope they haven't changed that, and that everything works out okay for you.

[kp35]

Hey there, I read through your entire thread and it has answered a lot of questions I would have had for a LL veteran! First off, my brother is the one who had ll surgery performed on him last week, but I am the one who will be taking care of him for the next 3 months. We booked an apartment specifically for this, and have no relatives or friends close by, nice little apartment completely wheelchair accessible.
So far, for the past few days he's been in pain of course, tomorrow his first day of lengthening starts. He went with the precise nail.

Being his personal care taker, would you have any recommendations on any do's and dont's we should take caution of? Anything that will help speed of his recover, and to ensure he recovers completely would be great. Is there anything you would have differently that if you knew you could change you would?

Also, as far as physical therapy goes, we're young guys so we pretty much will be trying to get my brother back to walking by ourselves. Do you have any idea as to how is hould start doing this? Perhaps a physical training routine you could share with me? I found these stretches, hope it's a good start:
http://www.theorthocentermd.com/patient-education/Knee/knee-therapy/

We also ordered a stationary bike for my brother. Thanks so much, and it was great to hear you're doing a lot better and are able to walk after your surgery. I seriously have so much respect for anyone going through this surgery and has gone through it. I personally myself would have never thought about going through the surgery, but the fact that I see everyone have such heart and determination to makes me feel inspired. I'm a huge supporter and advocate now for anyone who has gone through the process and managed to get back to walking. My brother is in a lot of pain already and it's difficult to watch sometimes and not be able to do much. Doing all I can though.