is Paley option 4 and 5 feasible/ actually safe

paley site option 5 claims you can do 16cm through double lengthening, would you even be able to function after doing this?

option 4 seems more realistic for 13cm.

at 5'4-5'5 (I can't tell, I think 5'4.5 really but I get different measurement all of the time) would 8cm be enough or should I risk it and go for 13 or 16. I know its a couple years of downtime but it really can't be worse than being this short forever, the only thing that would make it not worth it is if I can't run ever again.

At 163cm it will be very risky to do 8cm let alone 13cm. Most of the standard 5-6cm (15% of tibia) "safe" lengthening is based on people that are 170cm-173cm as their tibia is generally longer ( one of the greatest irony about LL is that taller people probably will have better outcomes and can lengthen more than shorter people ).

If you have the income/time to do both femurs/tibias you could do that, but your athleticism will probably be greatly diminished ( you could probably run but it will most likely be how old people run).

8cm on femur not tibia. Most i would do on tibia is 5cm and honestly I probably wouldn’t consider doing it at this point. But you think 8cm on femur is dangerous. I’m not 163 I’m 164 Atleast

The cruel irony of limb lengthening is the taller you are, the safer it is to get more length. This is because safety is largely based on what percentage of the original bone length you are increasing by. The standard amount that is considered “safe” is 15% so for the average US male that’s a lengthening of 7.2 cm femur and 5.5cm tibia. You are a couple inches shorter than the average male so let’s pretend your femur is 43 cm and your tibia is 33cm, this lets you get 6.45cm femur and 4.95 tibia or 11.4 cm total. That’s a good amount of height, about 4.5 inches. It almost works out perfectly by bringing you almost exactly to the US average height. I’d say if you really wanted to push it and when you you are lengthening you feel safe doing so, you could push it to a total of 13cm but that is probably not worth it.

I think Payley is extremely jaded at this point and doesn’t have a lot of regard for his patients well being. The idea that anyone can purchase a package promising 16 cm is irresponsible. Also keep in mind, these numbers I’m saying don’t mean much, what matters is how your body individually responds which can be influenced by rigorous prep and pt but sometimes it’s out of you or the surgeons hands and you can’t get more than a couple cm’s.

I’m good with 4.5 inches. I’ll probably be up a cm or two by the time I take this surgery (hopefully, and based on family history) so that would take me to close to 5’10 which is more than enough for me. Does “safe” mean no significant athletic impact or does it mean no risk of long term injury. For reference, I want to be a musician so doing a 2-3 hour live performance would be what I need to do, probably comparable to a game of tennis or if more intense, basketball. If I train within reason and follow my pt and listen to my doctor, that should work right?

"Safety" limit for femur is mostly +1cm of your tibia (5-6cm) so around 6-7cm. That's why you see lot of people that does both Tibia/Femurs do 5cm an 6cm respectively ( for a 11-12cm gain). In most cases they are all at least 170cm+, but there are still people from Asia in 140cm-160cm range that do it. Lastly, according to Dr. Lee ( vast majortiy of his patients are mid-high 160s do LON tibia +6cm ) he see that people that lengthen 15%-20% ( or 6cm ) generally reocver 80%-90% of their athleticism and significantly goes down at 7cm+ where it could be 50%-60%. For both it's hard to say since majority of LLers only do once but there are youtube bloggers that can jump/run/hike after 1-2 years and not complain though ( although they are all 170cm+ ).

Also, I would say training is as important or even more important than the surgeon/procedure itself. There are patients I see/talk to that even hire their own private PT Doctor on top of the PT session with their original surgeon. Dr. Lee probably have one of the best LL PT team since all of it is very localized in the hospital ( staff, facility, etc ) compared to other places that outsource it.

Paley is a very conservative doctor, and he isn't going to advertise a leg lengthening option unless he thinks it's safe for most people.

Very few people are accepted for option 5 (and even option 4 is not frequent). That's not only matter of money, he doesn't accept it for many people for whom he considers excessive (I suppose for example when final lenghtening would be far more than 15 or 20% of initial limb lenght).

Quote from: zaozari on May 03, 2022, 09:46:16 AM