Dr Augustin Betz (Neunkirchen, Germany) The Betz Institute

Edit Post

Quote from: gettingtaller on September 18, 2014, 07:49:10 AM

I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I think I'm the first patient to have both the 11mm and the 13mm nails. Betz doesn't like reaming your marrow hole if the 13 doesn't fit (introduces lots of new risks) and so he prefers to insert the 11 in that case.  My 11 has been fine so far. My 13mm leg (right) has been the weaker one throughout and so my left leg has been supporting my right leg ever since I got off crutches; bizarrely therefore my 11mm nail has been supporting my 13m nail :-)





That's very interesting. All that reaming for the 13mm nail must have really affected the structural integrity of that leg thereby making it the weaker leg.

Edit Post

Quote from: galaxy1 on September 18, 2014, 08:11:35 AM

That's very interesting. All that reaming for the 13mm nail must have really affected the structural integrity of that leg thereby making it the weaker leg.

That makes sense, except that he didn't ream my right femur - there was already enough space for the 13. He could have reamed my left femur to fit a 13 but decided not to ream and fitted an 11 instead.

Edit Post

Quote from: galaxy1 on September 18, 2014, 04:16:33 AMGeez, if Betz is going to take one's hard earned money, he is obligated to answer all pertinent questions on both of his 'Betz Nails' during the consultation, and even be prepared to back up his answers.

Actually he does. When you go for a consultation he will spend *A LOT* of time with you.  He will also accept questions by email or SMS after the face to face meeting and will reply to those quickly.  This form of "private" communication he is comfortable with and he will answer your questions about the nails and everything else in written form. it's not like he's trying to lure you into a face to face conversation that he can deny in future - it really isn't like that.  I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that like with other surgeons or professions it's not particularly smart offering "generic" answers on a public forum when there are people that have an objective to destroy your character. In that instance, my advice is always to stay silent.

Edit Post

Quote from: gettingtaller on September 18, 2014, 09:19:27 AM it's not like he's trying to lure you into a face to face conversation that he can deny in future

lol, that's exactly what Dr. Betz does. He tells his patients “ i guarantee that the nail is safe”. But after it breaks and the patient is injured he won't mention his “guarantee” anymore. I strongly advise against trusting Dr. Betz. Anyway he wrote here already exactly what he is telling all his patients during the consultation. So there's no need to pay 400 Euro and go to Germany to get exactly the same sales pitch.
Internal lengthening methods have been hyped a lot, but they are more risky than externals.

Edit Post

QuoteTo GROWtalORdieTRYING1: the 10billion patient sample was in reference to your flippant remark about basing all of your conclusions on a tiny number of diaries. There is no need to be offensive every time your fingers touch the keyboard ;-)For what it's worth, I'm a former research scientist so stats were my life (I've since got  a real life by leaving research and running a global business - much more fun!). This also means that I see the weakness in stats - like when you base important life decisions on the murmurings of a small number of people who decided to post their diaries online lol.
statistics can be skewed to mean anything. we both know this.

however we cant go making statements on the statistics based on theoretical data that never existed.
until you present diaries we can only go with the data we have currently.
and the data than then be cross analyzed with the statistics from guich which does not have a 50% nail break rate.
or we can cross analyse the statistics from any other internal nail doctor to get a comparison.

the point being that no matter what excuses you make for bets, or no matter how many statements about how you think it was the patient in every case for their nail breaking the fact remains that this same nail break rate is not present in guich diaries.

so either magically guich only accepts patients that are not going to "destroy the nail themselves" or guich is using a better nail.

Edit Post

out of curiosity what kinds of things (side effects) can happen when you ream the bone.

Edit Post

Quote from: gettingtaller on September 18, 2014, 09:06:46 AMThat makes sense, except that he didn't ream my right femur - there was already enough space for the 13. He could have reamed my left femur to fit a 13 but decided not to ream and fitted an 11 instead.

Okay, you had two different sized bone canals and this enabled you to use different sized Betz Nails , both 11 & 13, and so no reaming was actually done here. I  must have skimmed your post very quickly and didn't catch that.

Edit Post

Quote from: GROWtalORdieTRYING1 on September 18, 2014, 01:32:04 PMout of curiosity what kinds of things (side effects) can happen when you ream the bone.

I'm no doc so if anybody else can add anything here then please feel free...

What I can remember, betz told me that the highest risk is fracture from a severely weakened femur. The walls of your femur are thinned down to make space and can crack or splinter if you're unlucky enough. I know Leechlet was really concernd about this as he got reamed for 13s but of course there was no fracture issue in the end. I think betz also said that the small particulates of bones could come loose and cause an aneurism. Aneurisms can be fatal but the chances are low.

Edit Post

I am from germany. I wanted to go with betz. But now it seems that it would be no good choice. But What doctor do you recommend?

Edit Post

bets is still a doctor who will get you through leg lengthening. he is not a butcher, just make sure you have enough money to pay for a replacement nail if you go through with him.

if you are a millionaire and money means nothing to you then bets is a fine choice.