LON hygiene

Hi, I’m a patient who will be using AFA for femur Lon I. The next several months. Question for any that have done it. How does showering work? I assume you shower as usual. Then do you have the nurse come and change the bandage or do you do it and then she comes and changes it professionally twice a week or what? Do you sponge bath? In which case washing hair and face in the sink would be a pain

Thanks

I didn’t shower even once. Have bandages changed regularly and make sure the nurses change their gloves when changing bandages. Run away from water like you got rabies when you have the fixators on. Don’t sweat, don’t put covers over your legs when sleeping, keep it very dry. Don’t wash your hair or be in a humid environment. I got through and got no infection.

If your're forced to do LON I would recommend to do it with Afa like you want to. They change the bandages every second day, and gives you antibiotics with the least sign of infection, many of the other clinics in Turkey don't offer the same care. But I agree from what I have read from other patients don't go near water or anything humid. But I will recommend to rethink doing LON since the pain espically for femurs can be absolutely crazy and you might lose permanant Range of motion. So unless it will take 10+ years to save up for precice, you shouldn't do LON. 

LON on femurs? Are you ready for troubles?
If.it is not your second LL then just do lon on tibias. It is insane to do lon femurs if you have the choice for tibias.

thanks everyone... Damn no showers at all  . I guess Ill just have to sponge bath unless they tell me otherwise. As far as hair Ill just do it in the sink with my face...

As for Femur pain, I looked into it and yeah it may hurt but there are ALOT of patients that did LON femur and they describe it as not that bad. Especially after the first few days. Alot of them go to the gym with the fixators on, even at AFA which I plan to do twice a week as well... I have a good pain tolerance. My problem with precise is that I do NOT want to accidentally jump out of bed and break the nail, plus being wheelchair bound, even for a while after the first 3 months... not for me. 

You seem that you have no idea how bad is external fixators on femurs, something that no respectable doctors does, and you don't want to use precise because you are afraid to bent it...that's the most stupid reason I ever read. Monorails have less weight bearing capabilities than precise 2 durimg lengthening so until you stop lengthening you face much more serious risks to bend the internal nails of lon.
Anyway, good luck, you'll need it.

https://afalimblengthening.com/lon-method/

Literally says very high weight bearing capacity. And after removal full weight bearing as well. And I’ve seen videos from AFA of femur Lon patients walking. Am I missing something?

Your're not they are weight bearing and can hold your weight. However Dr Mustafa Uysal doesn't allow full weight bearing because of safety factors he answers that question here:

Right, he’s not referring to EVER. He’s saying in general use support as patients do at AFA and otherwise. But there’s also videos of patients working out at AFA with Lon femurs. I’m general, of course you use support for safety