Quote from: HeightGain on September 03, 2020, 07:58:39 AMAsk him, he does it for femur. Doctors do support strategies that patients seek provided there are no contraindications.
As I said, if ge does it, it's a rare case. It's not the norm.
i think the reason its not usually done is simply because most patients dont have the patience to do one surgery per segment.
id say from a surgical perspective it would be safer:
shorter operating time, half the blood loss, shorter time under anaesthesia.
id say most patients wouldnt agree to it simply due to the fact they they have to pay for twice the operating time. ( your surgeon may not charge you, but most likely the hospital will and your anaesthesiologist will)
Lengthening 1 leg at a time happens more often than you think.
It is safe, and if you have the time and ressources to do so, it is not a bad idea at all.
I currently have a patient who underwent tibia lengthening with fixators 1 leg at a time and he is doing great.
There is another one who will soon start tibia lengthening with Stryde 1 leg at a time as well.
I hope this helps!
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to update everyone that I went ahead with this plan but have only lengthened one leg so far. I have mixed feelings about this approach.
- I was much less anxious going into the operating room knowing it will be one leg. This was huge for me.
- I was very mobile during lengthening. In fact, I did not feel "disabled". I have known people who had injuries in one leg and I was like them. I was overall in good spirits. I knew the risks of most complications were only half for me. That gave me peace of mind.
- I stopped at only 4.8cm because I became paranoid about something going wrong while lengthening the other leg. My goal was 7cm so I fell short of it. This was primarily because I knew every mm I distract on my left leg, I would have to repeat on the other.
- Now, I feel like there is a mountain to climb again since I have to match my leg lengths now. I am quite tired of this whole ordeal. I am not afraid anymore, but just tired.
- I haven't been able to go out because my discrepancy will be visible to others. So this sucks big time.
- Cost wise it will not be twice as expensive, obviously. But it turns out to be around 40% more expensive than doing it bilaterally.
Hope this helps someone. I think doing it bilaterally is better but if you can't get yourself to do both sides together, it's a way to start I guess. Better than being afraid of doing it for years. I did it this way only because I was extremely afraid and there was no way I could do both sides together.
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