How much did your doctor charge you to remove the nails/rods?

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Hello,

I am going through my paperwork and am rolling up on my rod removal in the next couple of months. I was looking at the rod removal costs and it seems as if my doctor has $13-15k advertised on his website, but it appears he’s asking for $12k as a surgeon fee plus another $15-20k for hospital/anesthesia fees. The paperwork is very vague but it does not some of it could be covered by insurance. Wanted to hear if it’s standard, what you paid, and if your insurance helped pay for the removal?

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$1500 extra but I'd imagine the cost was subsidized by the amount of the initial payment.

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Did you go overseas??

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Yes.  Removing a nail isn't difficult for any qualified surgeon.

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Surely this could be done via public healthcare back home. Removing the rods is a medical necessity, regardless of if you 'did it to yourself'. It should be free (or covered by insurance in the case of America). Use the public healthcare system IMO.

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It's not viewed as a medical necessity and will not be covered by insurance for a cosmetic surgery, unless the nail is causing some specific problem.

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Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on June 02, 2023, 02:38:16 PMIt's not viewed as a medical necessity and will not be covered by insurance for a cosmetic surgery, unless the nail is causing some specific problem.

Are you sure about that? Giotikas told me it's important to remove the rods as the patient feels much more lightweight and flexible after it.

Also heard they can cause issues if you need an MRI scan later in life.

I'd certainly "hope" such things would be covered by public health care anyway. For public health care whether the initial surgery was cosmetic wouldn't matter - after all most health problems are caused by people's own negligence to some degree (smoking, drinking, working high stress jobs etc). All that would matter is whether the rods need to come out.

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Not all doctors feel that way.  Some think it's better to leave them in there rather than subject the body to another traumatic surgery.

Lots of devices can cause an issue with MRI; removing them isn't considered a necessity only because of that.

It's true that if the nails are causing an acute problem you could get them removed for free, but otherwise no.

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Quote from: tsmith4900 on June 02, 2023, 07:33:36 AMSurely this could be done via public healthcare back home. Removing the rods is a medical necessity, regardless of if you 'did it to yourself'. It should be free (or covered by insurance in the case of America). Use the public healthcare system IMO.

That sounds like a very long bureaucratic nightmare at least in scandi countries getting the government involved with something like that.

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Quote from: Medium Drink Of Water on June 02, 2023, 07:38:24 PMNot all doctors feel that way.  Some think it's better to leave them in there rather than subject the body to another traumatic surgery.

Lots of devices can cause an issue with MRI; removing them isn't considered a necessity only because of that.

It's true that if the nails are causing an acute problem you could get them removed for free, but otherwise no.

Seems it might be worth at least paying a doctor in your home country a visit to see if they 'feel that way' at least (and getting a 2nd and a 3rd opinion if necessary, after all you only need one to agree and refer you).

Perhaps try lying a bit, saying you can still feel the nails etc, they're making you uncomfortable in certain positions...most garden variety docs will have very little idea about leg lengthening or orthopaedics in general so might just agree to refer you to have them removed.