Iamprepared - Precise 2.3 Internal Femurs with Dr.Donghoon Lee 2017 (Seoul)

I travelled to Seoul, South Korea in January 2017 to begin my LL journey.

I've been dreaming about this for a number of years and I'm excited it's finally my turn. For those years, the community has really helped visualize what it'd be like to get the surgery done for myself. This time, I'd like to share my story with you guys.

Below is my personal info. Note that I value my privacy greatly so I'm sharing rather limited info about me. I'll get into more detail about LL journey itself though.

About
Age: 20s
Gender: Male
Ethnicity & Nationality: N/A
Starting Height: 5'5'' 1/2 (166cm)
Goal Height: 5'8'' (172.5cm)
Weight: 145 Ibs (65kg)

Surgery
Doctor: Donghoon Lee
Operation: Femurs
Type: Precise 2.1
Planned Distraction: 6.5cm
Diameter: 10.7mm (This supports 50 Ibs per leg unlike 12.5mm that supports 75 Ibs. I'm guessing this would make it harder for me to use a walker)
Surgery Date: January 20, 2017


Why I chose Precise 2.1
Despite much benefit discussed about full-weight bearing during distraction phase, the chance of complication from nails like Guichet seems higher than Precise (damage from clicking, discrepancy in legs length..etc.). I want to get it right safely and Precise 2.1 seems the safest option available at this point.

Why I chose Dr.Donghoon Lee
I shortlisted to two doctors - Dr.Paley in Florida and Dr.Donghoon Lee in Seoul (3rd doctor on the list was Dr.Mahboubian in LA). I've followed Dr.Paley for many years and I knew his reputation. Interestingly Dr.Lee was trained under Dr.Paley years ago and I knew Dr.Lee from his theses where I was sold on his passion to get his patients back to "sports" (he was the first orthopedic surgeon to use stem cell therapy for rapid bone consolidation). After all, both doctors were great and either location was okay for me, but the total cost was cheaper with Dr.Lee.

Pre-op exercise
For the past 3 months, I did stretching 3 times a day, leg exercise 1 a week and upper body exercise everyday mainly developing triceps, and running 4-5 times a week.

How I’m paying for it
I’ve saved some money and I’m borrowing from people very close to me.

Why now?
I rarely have a holiday but I happen to have a holiday for this quarter. It’s probably the only time I can do such a big surgery and hopefully have the time to recover. I also don’t think I'd wait for Precise 3 that may support full-weight bearing for 145 Ibs male. The speed of innovation in this industry has been slow and it could come out in years.


A couple of weeks have passed since the surgery. I've been keeping daily diary on my laptop, but I’ve been very busy surviving everyday… I’ll be posting my experience soon.

Good luck and have a safe and easy lengthening

 How much is the total price with dollars/euros? Since you are there you surely know

 Again, best of luck

Iamprepared

The Precice 2.1 nail hasn't been manufactured since May of 2015. Only the Precice 2.2 has manufactured since that time. So how are you having surgery with the Precice 2.1 in January of 2017?

Please describe EXACTLY what is included and EXACTLY what the total cost is, with pictures of the facilities.

Looking forward to following this experience. Dr. Donghoon Lee is my first choice for surgery. His website and his post op videos on youtube really seem to show how well trained he is by Dr. Paley and how well his patients do after surgery.

Keep up the good work.

Hi Iamprepared, (I'm going to get confused with all of these Iam... names!)

Congratulations for taking such a big step forward in choosing to go through with your leg lengthening surgery. Dr Lee is a very solid choice for cosmetic limb lengthening and I have read some of his methods during recovery to improve consolidation. It's very interesting stuff and I believe the next big step in limb lengthening. It's also nice to see you've chosen to lengthen a relatively safe length in your femurs.


I look forward to seeing your 'daily diary' experience since your initial surgery and the primary 2 weeks of lengthening. I truly hope the lengthening gives you the results that you desire, I am sure it will and it's always beneficial for prospective members to read the experiences of others.

Best of luck, friend.

Quote from: Rod Thick on February 12, 2017, 03:18:30 PM
The Precice 2.1 nail hasn't been manufactured since May of 2015. Only the Precice 2.2 has manufactured since that time. So how are you having surgery with the Precice 2.1 in January of 2017?

Please describe EXACTLY what is included and EXACTLY what the total cost is, with pictures of the facilities.

Hi Rod, could it be possible that clinics purchase a set amount of Precice nails from the manufacturers at any one moment meaning that they could possibly still be using previous stock of 2.1 nails?

I understand your reservations and hope Iamprepared can provide adequate evidence to prove the legitimacy of this diary. I'm sure it is possible to do so while maintaining privacy to put members minds at rest and be sure that this diary is in fact real.

Quote from: TIBIKE200 on February 12, 2017, 02:12:03 PMGood luck and have a safe and easy lengthening

 How much is the total price with dollars/euros? Since you are there you surely know

 Again, best of luck

Hey Tibike200, thanks for your warm wish! The cost including 7 days in hospital was around $60,000 USD. (there is 10% tax, $6,000, which you pay and get it back when you leave the country. So $66,000 for now and eventually I'll have paid $60,000). This includes all medications, PT, x-rays during 7 days.

After 7 days, the follow-up meeting with Dr.Lee every 2 weeks would cost me around $200-250 (this includes "pain killers" and x-ray). About $1,200 for 5 visits.

You need to pay for PT separately. $100 per session (usually lasts for 1h). I don't think it's cheap but they can come and visit your place. I think I'll be doing 3-4 times a week so I'm expected to spend around $4000 for the next 3 months.

I rented an apartment here for about $1,200 a month so I definitely won't be paying for the expensive hospital stay after 7 days (about $15-20K for 3 months stay). About $3,600 for 3 months in my case.

One unusual thing is that you need to rent the distraction device for $2,500 from a 3rd party company (the explanation given to me was.. "there is only one dealer in Korea that has this device, so they can charge whatever.."). Oh you also need to put $3,500 deposit.

Excluding food and flights, my total cost would be about $70,700 (given I'll get $6,000 tax and $3,500 device deposit back!)

I've expanded further as many people seem to ask about this topic. Note there will be minor difference as the currency rate changes.

Quote from: Rod Thick on February 12, 2017, 03:18:30 PMIamprepared

The Precice 2.1 nail hasn't been manufactured since May of 2015. Only the Precice 2.2 has manufactured since that time. So how are you having surgery with the Precice 2.1 in January of 2017?

Please describe EXACTLY what is included and EXACTLY what the total cost is, with pictures of the facilities.

Looking forward to following this experience. Dr. Donghoon Lee is my first choice for surgery. His website and his post op videos on youtube really seem to show how well trained he is by Dr. Paley and how well his patients do after surgery.

Keep up the good work.

Hey easy there tiger. I'm positive Dr.Lee said we'll use "Precise 2.1" during the consultation, so I'll stick with my statement. With your encouragement, I've posted detail on how much I'm spending, take a look. For the pictures of the facilities, I recommend you just type "Severance Hospital in Sinchon" on Google.

Good luck, if you're considering Dr.Lee. He's been excellent so far.

Quote from: 682 on February 12, 2017, 05:37:22 PMHi Iamprepared, (I'm going to get confused with all of these Iam... names!)

Congratulations for taking such a big step forward in choosing to go through with your leg lengthening surgery. Dr Lee is a very solid choice for cosmetic limb lengthening and I have read some of his methods during recovery to improve consolidation.

Thank you for you kind words, 682!

X-ray & Consultation
I took x-ray and was asked to come into the doctor’s room. I sat down and an assistant came in and sat in front of her computer, showing me her back. Dr.Lee came in and sat in front of me. It was a strange feeling that he was so familiar to me (due to my research) but he didn’t know me at all. He first opened up a bit of social chat and invited me for questions. I asked several questions about the surgery. Dr.Lee seemed an objective and transparent doctor telling me the potential outcome, both best case and worst case. Still, he assured that he has achieved 0% rate for patients suffering from major complication or long term issue. He was conservative, allowing patients what’s safe for them; He doesn’t like to allow weight bearing using walker as he thinks the Precise 2.1 nail is not strong enough. He much prefers all patients to use wheelchair during the distraction phase. He was more interested in patients' safe recovery through exercise and stretching. There was PT available in the hospital but he repeatedly mentioned his team is planning to build one of best facilities for physical therapy in the coming year. At the end of the meeting, I met with his assistant separately to book a surgery. It was an easy decision for me because I had already made my decision before the consultation. The consultation cost was about $250 USD.

Health Check
A few days prior to surgery, I was asked to do complete health check-up. This cost me about $300.

1 day before
I was hospitalized and taken to 3D x-ray at night. They wanted to see the complete angles of leg bones. It took about 1-2 hours. I was then taken to record a video of me walking. This was for the doctor to see whether the angle of fumers need to be corrected to make walking more natural. I was pretty impressed by the level of cosmetic perfection they want to achieve.

[Week1]
Day1
On my way to the surgery room, I insisted I need to use toilet as I didn’t want to have the urge to go poo immediately after the surgery (having heard many horror stories in this community). The nurse escorted me to the toilet and I was able to take the last one. In surgery room, Dr.Lee and his team greeted me. I felt the sense of trust. I was soon injected with general anesthesia and felt asleep. Woke up, screaming in pain and complained to a nurse nearby, asking why my knees are up and bent, and why she didn’t straighten my legs. She said I naturally chose to bend my knees this way. I was in the surgery waiting room, shivering and feeling way too cold to continue my words about not watching out a patient right after surgery. I was soon delivered to my room and carried to a different bed. The rollover caused some sharp pain. Another nurse connected pain killer, Fentanyl, to the drip bag. She said it will be injected every hour. I was also given Ultraset (pain killer) to swallow. After a while, I felt no pain. But whenever I try to move around in the bed, I felt a sharp pain especially on my right leg. The nurse came in every few hours to check my fever, pressure and to ask me the level of pain I’m experiencing. I just said, “no pain”.

In the evening, Dr.Lee and his team came into the room and said something very pleasing to hear “the surgery was successful”. He then emphasized on the importance of quad muscle, as well as flexibility of my legs. Immediately after he left, I tried to exercise my legs to strengthen the quad muscle (just above knee). I was quickly intrigued about the state of my legs: my flexibility and strength were all gone after the surgery. It was very hard to lift my leg. I grabbed the steels around the bed and gave ultimate strength to my abs and arms. My leg slowly went up (with the knee bent). I counted to 10, screaming at each number count.

The pain is under management (0-2 pain level). I learned to avoid certain moves that give me the sharp pain: I had to life my leg and then move left or right horizontally. If I just try to move my leg on the bed (with the friction) or move diagonally I would have some sharp pain.

Surprisingly, my sleep was really good on the first day, sleeping for 8 hours!


Day2
3 nurses are assigned to me and come into the room every few hours. They even check my fever at 4am in the morning while I'm asleep. I’m given a few pee bottles. I use them on the bed. No shame, when you can’t go to toilet! The nurses are nice to replace them with new ones when they see the bottles filled up. Dr.Lee and his team made a quick visit to see how I’m doing. I asked about the knee pain on my right leg and he said this is common and I’d get better soon.

One complaint about this hospital so far is food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all quite bad (4 out of 10). I just think the amount of nutrition here is not enough to heal my body quickly.

I’m doing stretching and exercise 6 times a day, every 3 hours. I know I have to regain my muscle and flexibility. Stretching feels really good. It causes “good” pain. Exercise is harder with occasional sharp pain to my legs, especially to my right knee. I lift my legs up and down very slowly with my knees bent and drink protein shake right after. I know I have to build some muscle if I want to get out of the bed and use the wheelchair.

My sleep is again very restful. I’d say my pain level today is 0-1.


Day3
I made an improvement. I can now lift my legs on the bed without my knees bent. My quad muscle has developed and they are quite visible now. I’m still stuck in the bed but I’m making sure I never miss stretching and exercise 6 times a day with the reminder feature on my iPhone. Dr.Lee and his team made another visit and it’s always good to see them (I think they come everyday). He is quite impressed about my mobility and how I manage to do the leg exercise. I am introduced with an electric device that stimulates my leg muscles. I’ve gotta say this is pretty useful.


Day4
I now exercise my legs by lifting them close to my chest. My flexibility is almost back to before the surgery. The assistant doctor thinks it’s pretty remarkable. I can touch my toe with my forearm, touch my ass with feet and touch my chest with knees. Fentanyl has run out and now I replaced Ultracets with Targin (It’s Oxycodone, and I’m given this when I asked for Oxycontin – I learned this compound from ‘Doingitforme’)

The worst part of today is poo. I’m still afraid to get out of the bed and use wheelchair as I don’t want to risk falling over when my muscles are not strong enough. Eventually, I did manage to get it done with a tool on the bed. Not going to get into much detail but, it was easily most painful nightmare so far.


Day5
Now my quad muscles are quite strong that I can lift without screaming. I’m now able to get to wheelchair myself. In my first try, it took about about 15 minutes. I had my legs get down first and my ass second. This was a mistake because the strength in my leg muscles soon faded away and they wandered around in pain: they had nowhere to rest. After a break, I tried again reversing the order. This time, I had my ass go down to wheelchair first. This was way easier because my legs can rest on the bed until my ass landed on wheelchair. I then pull legs one by one to the seat. It took about 5 minutes.

For the first time since the surgery, I came out of the room in wheelchair. Very happy moment, strolling around. The hospital is really huge, and I'm exploring everywhere. It’s snowing here today. And it’s beautiful.


Day6
My first PT session began and It went very successful. All my stretching and exercise for the past days paid off and the therapist was visibly impressed. He is fun and very knowledgeable about recovery programs. One thing he said was very encouraging, "we may be able to maintain muscle and flexibility all the way until we finish distraction".

Bed to wheelchair now only takes 2 minutes. Remember It took 15 minutes yesterday! I can now go to toilet as well. It’s still pretty painful to switch from wheelchair to the cubicle.

I’ve finally switched Targin to Oxycontin, and I can feel Oxycontin works better! (‘Doingitforme’ was right). My current pain level is about 0-1. My sleep is good.


Day7
Lengthening has started. 0.25mm for 4 times a day. There is no pain during distraction. The device is very simple to use. I’ve changed my stretching and exercise from 6 times to 4 times a day to sync with the lengthening interval. I need to make a good habit!

I feel great overall. I’m glad the pain is no where near what I had imagined before the surgery. I'm also happy with my decision to go with Dr.Lee. He is skilled and very reliable. The team and staff here call him the "Professor" and they show the utmost respect for him.

Great to see a patient experience from Dr. Donghoon Lee. I've always been a strong supporter of his. I'm curious about the use of the PRECICE 2.1 as opposed to the PRECICE 2.2. Please speak with Dr. Donghoon Lee and post in greater detail as to the reason behind this decision. It's very interesting.