Hi there,

I had a successful surgery in 2022ish with Betz. Lengthening was completed and i've just been living with the nail.

I think generally there is no implication of keeping the nail - other than the weight in my legs, sometimes i can feel the nails and when i go through metal detectors sometimes it beeps which can be embarrassing. Other than that there's not really any other negatives. I can walk perfectly fine but sometimes ive got a little bit of a sway still - Betz said to me once that that is a little bit caused by the nails due to movement in them. Betz also said once that if you ever get into an accident and need surgery the nails could cause issues for that. But other than that i believe you can keep them in forever.

That being said, I've always had in my mind that i should probably get it removed. I think it will slightly improve my walking, it will end that chapter in my life and i feel like I might as well now that i have the opportunity to do so.

That said I wanted to see if anyone had gone through this process before or if not, if you had any views or answers to my questions:
- If you've done it, why or why not did you do/not do get it removed?
- Did you see benefits from removing the nail after?
- Was the surgery hard, did you lose much weight / muscle (i did in the first surgery but i think this one is much simpler).
- How was the surgery, was it quick/simple (i understand its 1 day and then discharge and then you can walk out of there)
- The flight to Europe for me is very long and i was wondering if there was any countries who could do it instead e.g. in Asia which is a lot closer to me. Or should i not risk it and just man up and do the long flight.


For anyone wondering, the surgery was one of the hardest things ive ever done , if not the hardest, but i am so so so o so glad i did i and that its over now.

Max