External Tibias and embolism risk

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I hear a lot about embolism risk with internal femurs, but feel like External tibias are the least invasive procedure and should significantly lower embolism risk. Although risk of minor infections are higher.

I am 5'10.5-5'11 and will be doing external tibias for 4 cm in a couple of years with Dr. Solomin. (I know I should be grateful, but a lot has happened in my life that made me insecure about my height)

I am wondering about the possible risks with this procedure in comparison to internal femurs.

Thank you for your time!

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Quote from: hype88 on December 17, 2016, 07:41:17 AMHey mate,

Let me start by saying you've already got an awesome starting height! If you don't mind could you give us a quick run down of why your insecure about your height? because a lot of people here would kill to that height haha...

hey man thank you. Yeah I know it sounds bad because there are a lot of shorter guys in here, but we are all fighting our own demons.
I never used to care about my height or anybody else's height. I believe we are all equal in God's eyes and have the power to do whatever we want to in this world if we work hard enough.

But I met a girl 2 1/2 years ago and fell for her hard. I believe im an attractive guy and smart (premed; taking mcat in Jan) but this girl wasn't the "hot" types. She was "cute". A type of girl I would bring home to my parents. So I started talking to her. We became friends and hung out for 3 months and then we started talking about relationships, etc. She told me she would only date a guy 6' (she thought I was 6 feet tall). I was honest with her because thats the type of person I am. I told her I am 5'10.5. She couldn't believe it and told me I at least had to be 6 feet tall. I said I am pretty sure im 5'10.5. She said, "maybe you grew after HS or something".

I ended up dating this girl for a year and half. I fell for her so hard man. Like she was the one for me. I told my mom about her and I never tell my mom about girls in my life. She ended up cheating on me with her 6'2 guy crush from HS back in the day. I met the guy she cheated on with me at my university. He was in my discussion group. After class, he told me "some things in life you can't control man. She always tells me how much she finds my height attractive, and how much better it is than your height." I gave him the one-two and broke his jaw. And walked home in the rain even though I had my car in the parking lot.

I used to be a confident guy. I've lost it now. I used to be fit. 177 pounds 14% bodyfat benching 305 pounds for max. Now I'm 200 pounds and havent worked out ever since.

I loved this girl a lot and I haven't gotten over it. She was only 5'4. I feel like I can get my confidence back and feel a little better about myself getting to 6'-6'1. That's all man.

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Quote from: IwannaBeTaller on December 17, 2016, 10:58:40 AMYour bad girlfriend experiences aside, don't you think it's disrespectful to call yourself "the manlet" on a forum like this, especially considering your height? This isn't the Bodybuilding forum and just consider what people shorter than you might think.

I swear I didn't even know what a manlet was until I researched it right now. I just thought a manlet meant your short but the definition on google makes me feel bad. Ill see if I can change it man.

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I don't think I can change my username. Sorry if I offended anybody. I have a forum account on bodybuilding.com too and people call each other manlet. Just thought it meant your short. I do consider myself short.

Everybody has their own perspective man. Like I said everyone has their own monsters they are trying to fight. I might consider my height to be short because of my relationship, but you might consider it to be a good height. Likewise, a 6 foot tall person might still see himself short.

I'll make a new username account tomorrow that won't offend anybody. There is no place for using this word after I researched the definition. Good looks bro

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Quote from: TIBIKE200 on December 17, 2016, 10:23:39 AMUgh the feels...

Anyway, putting my simpathy aside, there is no need for you to do LL. You just need to get over the breakup, and afterwards find a girl who is not shallow as fk (shallow might not be the right term since she is just one of those girls who has a fetish for really tall dudes... Than again, she cheated instead of breaking up with you beforehand).

 LL is not your solution since height is not your problem... Stay strong. All men have been there

Thanks man. I appreciate that. I will try my best. But it's something that's going to take time and If I can't get over it, I feel like LL is something I will have to do to make me feel better about myself and get my confidence back

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Quote from: Dozer on December 17, 2016, 12:39:01 PMProfile -> Account settings -> Name

To answer your question, yes embolism risk should be lower with externals as "installing" them is less invasive then nailing.

Possible risks are as you mentioned, minor pin site "infections" (inflammations actually, they never should get to infection status if you properly being monitored by the Dr or by yourself if you will, it's not hard to detect inflammed pin sites). Then you usually use anti-inflammation and antibiotic creams on that particular pin site until inflammation goes away. That was always enough for me and I've spent in externals about 2 years. Rarely it should get to a point where you'd need to take oral antibiotics or remove/replace the pins.

Then there's risk of valgus/varus deformities . Internals lengthen along the anatomic axis so usually you won't get any deformities, however some minor (in rare cases not minor) deformities are still possible with internals due to nails bending from what I've seen on x-rays, and my Doc confirmed that they have "bad valgus" (or varus - I don't remember). You also can't fix these deformations with internals. But with externals IF (because not all Drs are good with deformity corrections, though Solomin/Kulesh are quite good - the have a lot of female patients fixing valgus/varus deformities and they also use hexapods, which can be used at the end of the lengthening phase to correct, if they occur, complicated deformities) you go to a good Doc he should be able to completely straighten the bone with the external frames and also hexapod installation if needed, however it's not always possible, so you may be left with minor valgus/varus still. Also, with externals you can account the change in knee axis (mechanical axis) if you lengthen your femurs and adjust accordingly so your knees are 90 degrees else you run a risk of developing arthritis in the future. With internal femur lengthening you're going to throw off your mechanical axis almost guaranteed, even though they're considered "absolutely superior" here on the forums.

Pin bending and breakage also happen. Though I never had any pins break in 2 years, but they ALWAYS bend, however this is always accounted with external lengthening and changes are made accordingly. Plus replacing a broken pin is a very simple and cheap process. If your internal nail breaks (quite a few cases here on the forums you can find) you're fked.

This is what I can remember on top of my head and are the most important points.

thanks for your response man, I appreciate it. That helps a lot

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Quote from: Dozer on December 17, 2016, 12:43:31 PMIf you're being serious (not sure if trolling), then the only place you'd want to bring her is a trash can. Deciding on LL because of this is just super beta behavior. Good luck anyways.

I'm doing it because it took a toll on my confidence and self-esteem. I'm a perfectionist and have height dysphoria now and believe that LL is a way to get my confidence back.
Once again, thank you man

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Quote from: Dozer on December 18, 2016, 02:07:45 AMInternals are superior in many ways, I just don't buy that they're definitely superior.

For comfort, internals are superior, as there are no external parts interfering with your clothes or sleep. Taking shower or bath is also made possible or should I say more comfortable.

For short-term recovery, internals should also superior, because they allow quicker weight-bearing than pure externals. The faster you start weight bearing (I mean walking with no support), the sooner you should recover.

However, they are indeed studies on knee pain and nailing. Also, with internal femur nailing you'll be throwing off your mechanical axis causing knee misalignment which can be visible and measured on standing xrays. This has been noted by both guys at Ilizarov's Centre (Kurgan) and RNIITO (St. Petersburg). If fact, I've read a study from Kurgan exclusively on the matter of mechanical axis and femur lengthening and they've concluded that internal femur lengthening unavoidably leads to arthritis. So while internals are indeed better for short-term recovery, what about long term effects on your knee joints?

And let's not talk about the pricing of internal LL. It's hyped and advertised as "superior" and "pain free" method of LL, which is just a PR-strategy.
Yes. They use these at RNIITO (Solomin and Kulesh). They are a combination of pins and rods (stronger, thicker pins basically). They offer more stability and weight bearing and are an improvement of the old standard Ilizarov's Apparatus they still use at Ilizarov's Centre (Kurgan).

People think Internals are safer because doctors like Dr. Paley and Guichet say they are the more advanced and better options. But what people don't realize is they made the nails and make tons of profit off you!!
"why drive a toyota camry, when you can be driving a lamborghini"
--maybe because even though the camry is slower, it is less expensive and safer than a 160 mph Lamborghini.

LL Doctors have a business, and they make millions off of the internal methods. If you actually do research on both methods, you will find that external tibias are a lot better in terms of safety (both short term and long term) in comparison to internal femurs.

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if i get this surgery, it will most likely be with Dr. Solomin using externals with 6 axis correction system for 4 cm gain (tibs)

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this post and tried helping me out!