Posted on Oct 10, 2017, 1:05 pm
#1
Full disclaimer: This if for those really seriously thinking about leg lengthening surgery in Vietnam, I’m only going to post this and no pictures because honestly I don’t want any pictures of me, or me doing the surgery. Sorry for not having a lot of pictures or what not but I hope me writing honestly about my surgery will give you a good idea of what I went through and what it was like.
For 6 years I thought about getting the leg lengthening surgery I was about 5’8 or 5’9 give or take half an inch. When I was younger I never thought much about my height. I never really had a big growth spurt and thought maybe I might have one latter in life. I never did and in college I became really self-conscious about my height. All of my really good friends have always been around 5’11 or 6 foot tall. So I always felt I was short, especially on the West Coast where people are on average taller. The average height in U.S was 5’9 but now in 2017 it’s right around 5’9 ½ to 5’10. I graduated college early at 21 with my bachelors and when working or going out with my friends I felt even more self-conscious feeling like if only I was a little taller things would be better. I went aboard and worked for two years to save money for the surgery; I thought it would take one year but I did a lot of traveling and paid off my student loans. When I was 24 I decided it was time to finally get the surgery and I was so nervous, well really I was terrified. I had a girlfriend of two years and I never told her why I was saving so much money. I finally told her and she supported me one hundred percent, in fact without her support and going with me to Vietnam I don’t think I would have been able to do it. She asked me why I would want the surgery I wasn’t short but I told her about my experience in the U.S. and what I felt. She’s 5ft ‘5 and didn’t think I was short at all, but just understood and was supportive.
I looked for a long time on the forum for about 3 or 4 years looking for the right place, I first thought India was the best and cheapest option but it got a couple more thousand dollars more expensive every year and soon it was $15,000. Then when I saved enough money Vietnam popped up on the forums for around $10,000 for surgery and housing and medicine … I contacted them by email in 2016 and they said they were fully booked until next year January. The price changed to $12,500 for 7cm to 8cm including surgery, medicine, x-rays, hospital stay and 4 to 5 months stay at their guest facilities (referred to as the institute) with 3 meals a day and physical therapy. Also it covered if they made any mistakes and had to fix them, including complications during surgery. (which I’m glad it covered, more on that latter…) I decided to travel and emailing them back and forth we decided on April 2017. After traveling for 6 months and meeting my girlfriend in Vietnam, it took me three days of back and forth thinking of backing out at the last minute. Finally I did it and it was one of, if not the hardest decision of my life, to be honest I was so scared I cried.
The whole time, my contact Thao who I had been emailing was with me translated everything, answered all my questions and asked questions I had he didn’t know. Thanks to him I felt confident and fine with the decisions I made. The whole time he was a text or phone call away and helped with everything and anything you could imagine. I went in had the surgery I decided to be awake for the surgery and I was for half of it but I started to feel the doctors doing the surgery and they put out. I woke up so high on drugs with two giant frames on my legs and they wheeled me to my room on a hospital bed. I thought, “there’s no going back now.” For three weeks constant spinal drip morphine and pain killers. I stayed in that bed for 4 weeks. During the first 2 weeks they found out they inserted a frame pin wrong and even moving my left leg caused me so much pain, they had to x-ray my leg and wheel me back in for a second surgery. I was in so much pain I didn’t move my legs at all and they told me I would be in so much pain even with the pain killers that it wasn’t until two weeks after the first surgery when they took off the bandages and tried to move my legs that I realized they had made a mistake. Luckily for me all complications were covered and they got it right the second time. I was so relieved, thinking I had made a huge mistake. My girlfriend only stayed with me for the first month and then had to leave. Even sitting up was hard, and I almost past out, then slowly I learned how to stand again with a walker and then even walk a little. After a month and a half in the hospital I could leave and go to the institute. I was on my way to recovery and slowly lengthening now. I had a helper the whole time in the hospital and she was great 24/7 help, and she cleaned me, feed me and helped me go to the bathroom when my girlfriend wasn’t around to help me. They had a helper in institute but I felt uncomfortable because he was a guy and he was very lazy, he would do things but only when I asked, in fact they fired him and hired someone who is much better now. But in the institute I had a wheelchair and a walker and my own room and no roommates so it taught how to be independent and I think ended up being a very good thing in the end.
The next three months of lengthening was really hard, as I was all by myself and felt so lonely but I knew it would be worth it. The food was ok, but I got so sick of Vietnamese food even though it was good. Took medicine everyday and tried to stand for an hour to keep from getting ballerina foot or at the end keeping it from getting so serious. Also sleeping was really hard, I was so uncomfortable that I woke up every couple hours and had to sleep with my feet on the floor and then move them so I was laying flat on the bed, cycling between these two positions. I wanted 8 cm but finally deiced on 7cm after my physical therapist (he was Vietnamese and English was not that great) said 7cm is the max, no more or you will get problems, trust me he said “I’ve seen hundreds of people get the surgery and everyone who goes over 7cm has problems”. He only visited 2 to 3 times a week and on the days he did not show up I was responsible for my own exercise and therapy. The hospital said 8cm was fine and the doctor who did the surgery said I could even go up to 9cm but then I would have to have the tendon release surgery and I did not want that. I think 7cm ended being perfect for me in part because of my taller then average height for a person seeking leg lengthening surgery, my relatively young age, good physical condition before and also because I keep up with the physical therapy and eat right and took all the medicine they gave me. Finally my girlfriend came again to stay with me and is with me now as I write this.
She stayed with me for the two weeks leading up to the frame removal surgery and the 2 months that have past since. For the frame removal I decided to be put to sleep which was much better and the next two days in recovery was painful but not as bad as the first surgery and it was a week until I could stand again. Then another three days until I started walking with a walker. They recommended 15 minutes X 6 times a day of walking for the best recovery and just like the standing an hour everyday when I had the frames on I took this very seriously and stuck with it. I should mention leading up to and after the frame removal they said the physical therapist wasn’t needed any more (and I agree) after that it was up to me to be responsible for my recovery and therapy to make sure I could walk again. After two weeks I could walk with one had on the walker, after three weeks I could take a few steps with the walker in front of me but not touching it or holding on to it for support. After a month I went out of the institute for the first time. My girlfriend and I went to a mall and had a wonder dinner, and great time. I had to walk with my walker the whole time and walked very very slow and sat down often but it was great after so long to be out and to be able to walk. Another week and I got lifts for shoes that helped my slight ballerina foot. The lifts were 3 cm with 2 cm in the base and the other goes right underneath the 2 cm main lift. For two weeks I walked with 3 cm lifts and no walker, then another two weeks with the 2cm lifts and now I’m walking with no lifts at all. My walking is almost back to normal and in another month should be completely normal and back to the way it was. I now can go out and walk around for about 3 to 4 hours with only slight discomfort. By the end of the year probably start exercising again and running lightly.
In one and half to two years planning on going back to Vietnam and taking the support rods out. Overall, I have to say I’m very happy with my experience and how it all happened. When I go out now I feel great, I’m not self-conscious anymore, and feel really tall. I’m now 5’11 and with shoes 6ft. I lost a lot of weight and I’m really skinny now so I need eat more and exercise when I get home to the West Coast. To celebrate finishing this 5 month process, my girlfriend and I are traveling for 6 weeks and back home. Hope this has helped in anyway and for those really interested contact Thao @[email protected]
-Best of luck
For 6 years I thought about getting the leg lengthening surgery I was about 5’8 or 5’9 give or take half an inch. When I was younger I never thought much about my height. I never really had a big growth spurt and thought maybe I might have one latter in life. I never did and in college I became really self-conscious about my height. All of my really good friends have always been around 5’11 or 6 foot tall. So I always felt I was short, especially on the West Coast where people are on average taller. The average height in U.S was 5’9 but now in 2017 it’s right around 5’9 ½ to 5’10. I graduated college early at 21 with my bachelors and when working or going out with my friends I felt even more self-conscious feeling like if only I was a little taller things would be better. I went aboard and worked for two years to save money for the surgery; I thought it would take one year but I did a lot of traveling and paid off my student loans. When I was 24 I decided it was time to finally get the surgery and I was so nervous, well really I was terrified. I had a girlfriend of two years and I never told her why I was saving so much money. I finally told her and she supported me one hundred percent, in fact without her support and going with me to Vietnam I don’t think I would have been able to do it. She asked me why I would want the surgery I wasn’t short but I told her about my experience in the U.S. and what I felt. She’s 5ft ‘5 and didn’t think I was short at all, but just understood and was supportive.
I looked for a long time on the forum for about 3 or 4 years looking for the right place, I first thought India was the best and cheapest option but it got a couple more thousand dollars more expensive every year and soon it was $15,000. Then when I saved enough money Vietnam popped up on the forums for around $10,000 for surgery and housing and medicine … I contacted them by email in 2016 and they said they were fully booked until next year January. The price changed to $12,500 for 7cm to 8cm including surgery, medicine, x-rays, hospital stay and 4 to 5 months stay at their guest facilities (referred to as the institute) with 3 meals a day and physical therapy. Also it covered if they made any mistakes and had to fix them, including complications during surgery. (which I’m glad it covered, more on that latter…) I decided to travel and emailing them back and forth we decided on April 2017. After traveling for 6 months and meeting my girlfriend in Vietnam, it took me three days of back and forth thinking of backing out at the last minute. Finally I did it and it was one of, if not the hardest decision of my life, to be honest I was so scared I cried.
The whole time, my contact Thao who I had been emailing was with me translated everything, answered all my questions and asked questions I had he didn’t know. Thanks to him I felt confident and fine with the decisions I made. The whole time he was a text or phone call away and helped with everything and anything you could imagine. I went in had the surgery I decided to be awake for the surgery and I was for half of it but I started to feel the doctors doing the surgery and they put out. I woke up so high on drugs with two giant frames on my legs and they wheeled me to my room on a hospital bed. I thought, “there’s no going back now.” For three weeks constant spinal drip morphine and pain killers. I stayed in that bed for 4 weeks. During the first 2 weeks they found out they inserted a frame pin wrong and even moving my left leg caused me so much pain, they had to x-ray my leg and wheel me back in for a second surgery. I was in so much pain I didn’t move my legs at all and they told me I would be in so much pain even with the pain killers that it wasn’t until two weeks after the first surgery when they took off the bandages and tried to move my legs that I realized they had made a mistake. Luckily for me all complications were covered and they got it right the second time. I was so relieved, thinking I had made a huge mistake. My girlfriend only stayed with me for the first month and then had to leave. Even sitting up was hard, and I almost past out, then slowly I learned how to stand again with a walker and then even walk a little. After a month and a half in the hospital I could leave and go to the institute. I was on my way to recovery and slowly lengthening now. I had a helper the whole time in the hospital and she was great 24/7 help, and she cleaned me, feed me and helped me go to the bathroom when my girlfriend wasn’t around to help me. They had a helper in institute but I felt uncomfortable because he was a guy and he was very lazy, he would do things but only when I asked, in fact they fired him and hired someone who is much better now. But in the institute I had a wheelchair and a walker and my own room and no roommates so it taught how to be independent and I think ended up being a very good thing in the end.
The next three months of lengthening was really hard, as I was all by myself and felt so lonely but I knew it would be worth it. The food was ok, but I got so sick of Vietnamese food even though it was good. Took medicine everyday and tried to stand for an hour to keep from getting ballerina foot or at the end keeping it from getting so serious. Also sleeping was really hard, I was so uncomfortable that I woke up every couple hours and had to sleep with my feet on the floor and then move them so I was laying flat on the bed, cycling between these two positions. I wanted 8 cm but finally deiced on 7cm after my physical therapist (he was Vietnamese and English was not that great) said 7cm is the max, no more or you will get problems, trust me he said “I’ve seen hundreds of people get the surgery and everyone who goes over 7cm has problems”. He only visited 2 to 3 times a week and on the days he did not show up I was responsible for my own exercise and therapy. The hospital said 8cm was fine and the doctor who did the surgery said I could even go up to 9cm but then I would have to have the tendon release surgery and I did not want that. I think 7cm ended being perfect for me in part because of my taller then average height for a person seeking leg lengthening surgery, my relatively young age, good physical condition before and also because I keep up with the physical therapy and eat right and took all the medicine they gave me. Finally my girlfriend came again to stay with me and is with me now as I write this.
She stayed with me for the two weeks leading up to the frame removal surgery and the 2 months that have past since. For the frame removal I decided to be put to sleep which was much better and the next two days in recovery was painful but not as bad as the first surgery and it was a week until I could stand again. Then another three days until I started walking with a walker. They recommended 15 minutes X 6 times a day of walking for the best recovery and just like the standing an hour everyday when I had the frames on I took this very seriously and stuck with it. I should mention leading up to and after the frame removal they said the physical therapist wasn’t needed any more (and I agree) after that it was up to me to be responsible for my recovery and therapy to make sure I could walk again. After two weeks I could walk with one had on the walker, after three weeks I could take a few steps with the walker in front of me but not touching it or holding on to it for support. After a month I went out of the institute for the first time. My girlfriend and I went to a mall and had a wonder dinner, and great time. I had to walk with my walker the whole time and walked very very slow and sat down often but it was great after so long to be out and to be able to walk. Another week and I got lifts for shoes that helped my slight ballerina foot. The lifts were 3 cm with 2 cm in the base and the other goes right underneath the 2 cm main lift. For two weeks I walked with 3 cm lifts and no walker, then another two weeks with the 2cm lifts and now I’m walking with no lifts at all. My walking is almost back to normal and in another month should be completely normal and back to the way it was. I now can go out and walk around for about 3 to 4 hours with only slight discomfort. By the end of the year probably start exercising again and running lightly.
In one and half to two years planning on going back to Vietnam and taking the support rods out. Overall, I have to say I’m very happy with my experience and how it all happened. When I go out now I feel great, I’m not self-conscious anymore, and feel really tall. I’m now 5’11 and with shoes 6ft. I lost a lot of weight and I’m really skinny now so I need eat more and exercise when I get home to the West Coast. To celebrate finishing this 5 month process, my girlfriend and I are traveling for 6 weeks and back home. Hope this has helped in anyway and for those really interested contact Thao @[email protected]
-Best of luck
Our patients regularly lengthen 7-10 cm on their tibiae (which is the bone also known as the shankbone below the knees) without serious complications, they usually recover well and participate in athletic competitions like marathons regularly. The prices are very affordable even for patients with student debt or unemployment.