LON Tibia 6.7cm, Ho Chi Minh, Dr. Quynh.

First of all, big thank you to the forum because without this place I don't think I ever would have gone through with this surgery.

Okay, a little bit about me before I get into the details of my experience so far here.
I'm 30 years old, give or take, and my starting height was around 164cm (lunchtime measurement). I won't get too specific but I live in one of the major English speaking countries (UK, USA, Australia, Canada etc.)

For the past 9 or 10 years I have been using different types of shoe lifts, so my height during the day has usually been around the 169-171 mark. Unfortunately wearing shoes like this is really uncomfortable and taking them off every evening is also not a great feeling so I decided to look into leg lengthening. My decision really came down to wearing 6-7cm lifts for the rest of my life or doing Leg lengthening.

Long story short, because of Co-vid 19 I ended up in Vietnam and decided it was now or never. Which brings me to now, after 4 months of lengthening, I am 6.7cm taller so 0.3 short of my username and original goal! I will be having my frames removed in a few days so I thought this would be a good time to start my diary.

Beforehand, I thought that once the lengthening was done I would be 90 percent of the way to normal. In reality, I'm still using a walker to move around slowly and I understand I have a lot of work to go. I do however feel happy with the decision I made and can't wait to experience life outside again with my extra height and a renewed appreciation for life (believe me, if you go through this process you will appreciate normal life so much more. I guarantee this.).


For now I'll just touch a little on my experience here but any questions are welcome because I'm pretty bored now. So the best way to describe this process is exhausting. Throughout the months I haven't really been in any excruciating pain but the bone aches, muscle tightness, pinsite stings, constipation (a big issue for me) have a way of all coming at the same time and wearing you out. The best part about doing the surgery here is that these types of issues are taken seriously and addressed quickly and that is one thing i have appreciated. For example, I requested to go to the hospital for a checkup after being constipated for a week and they took me that very day I asked. Light bulb changes or similar you might be waiting a little longer but it is what it is, and it's a trade off that works.

Finally, on the amount I lengthened. Before the surgery 7cm was my goal, this changed multiple times throughout the lengthening process and I really wasn't sure how I would know when to stop. One morning I woke up with a strong pain in my ankles, a type of pain I can't really describe and one I didn't feel throughout the whole process and it felt like my body was telling me this is enough so I stopped then and there. 6.7cm is 20 percent of my original tibia length and a very substantial lengthening so I will keep everyone updated on my recovery process. As for right now I have about 2.5cm of ballerina but very little knee contracture.

I think this will be it for now, I will update more about the experience later but for now enjoy a picture of my sturdy frames.

Hi, first of all congrats. some questions:
1. how much did you pay and did you get a package with therapy, housing, etc?
2. how much did you lengthen each day?
3. did you develop ballerina or not?

Hi canterk, thanks for the congrats

1. I paid just under $20000 USD and it included 4 months of housing, food and 1 hour of physical therapy Monday - Friday. For physical therapy they come to your room. They kept the same price for me from when I initially contacted them a year before the surgery which was appreciated.

2. Until I reached 2cm I lengthened at 1mm per day (4 turns on their device). From 2cm-5.5/6cm I lengthened 0.75mm per day and then just 0.5 for the last cm or so. I probably lengthened at the most cautious speed of everyone here at the moment because I was worried about nerve damage.

3. Yeah, I still have around 3cm ballerina, I think I will probably have to wear lifts for a month or two after surgery *frame removal* to keep my balance.

at what point did you get ballerina? was it when you reached 5cm lengthned or even earlier?

thanks for replying by the way and well wishes!

Thanks for sharing. I wear lift shioes and I'm as short as you were. Congrats

you are right ballerina can be managed for a while with lift shoes. Interesting to see how much time you will need  to recover.

Hey bud, wishing you a speedy recovery. What made you choose LON tibs?

Hey guys so just a little update, I had the frames taken off about 10 days ago. My legs feel a lot better now and not quite as tight as before. The first time my knees touched together it felt insanely weird because I was used to the metal clanging whenever my legs were close haha. I'm still resting so no updates about walking without frames yet.

I was warned the frame removal would be tough but I didn't have much pain. The worst part was the IV drip, I hate having those in.

@canterk I got ballerina a little before that maybe started at 4-4.5cm

@marcjero haha so you can relate then, at our starting height I think this surgery or wearing lifts makes a big difference. Which country/part of the world are you in ?

@hoopdreams Thanks for the well wishes. I was pretty torn between femur and tibia for a long time, I thought about it for a maybe 2-3 years and ultimately I decided Tibia because lower risk of P.E/ fat embolism - cheaper with external/LON methods - and I chose LON because I knew mentally I couldn't handle frames for a year or so.

Quote from: 171in2022 on July 11, 2022, 02:08:57 PMHey guys so just a little update, I had the frames taken off about 10 days ago. My legs feel a lot better now and not quite as tight as before. The first time my knees touched together it felt insanely weird because I was used to the metal clanging whenever my legs were close haha. I'm still resting so no updates about walking without frames yet.

I was warned the frame removal would be tough but I didn't have much pain. The worst part was the IV drip, I hate having those in.

@canterk I got ballerina a little before that maybe started at 4-4.5cm

@marcjero haha so you can relate then, at our starting height I think this surgery or wearing lifts makes a big difference. Which country/part of the world are you in ?

@hoopdreams Thanks for the well wishes. I was pretty torn between femur and tibia for a long time, I thought about it for a maybe 2-3 years and ultimately I decided Tibia because lower risk of P.E/ fat embolism - cheaper with external/LON methods - and I chose LON because I knew mentally I couldn't handle frames for a year or so.

That IV drip is a bit more painful than the legs feeling after LL? Quite a lot of work in there, congratulations on new height.

Quote from: ilovescience on July 11, 2022, 02:30:58 PMThat IV drip is a bit more painful than the legs feeling after LL? Quite a lot of work in there, congratulations on new height.

Thanks! I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it yet but I'm sure I will.

About the IV, most of the time it's fine when connected to the drip but when the nurses come to inject antibiotics/pain killers (not sure what is was) with a syringe into the IV it would make my arm feel cold and ache really bad. I guess because of the painkillers though my legs didn't hurt much. But yeah the doctors and staff warned me it would hurt after frame removal so I don't know lol.