September14 - Internal Femurs - Dr. Betz - 2014

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Hello everybody

İ am a patient of Dr.Betz,i am new here and i decide to start telling my story about lenghtening. Normally i am not good at writing a diary but i can say as my experiences in this process,i noticed that it is hard to get some informations about lenghtening patients.

My English is not good,sorry for that but i will try to explain myself,answer questions;So you can get some thoughts from an another patients side.


İ am 18 years old.My surgery was in end of the september 2014.So it is like 7 months after surgery now.
İ finished my clicks almost end of January.And i did 10.3 cm .

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Hello,
May I ask some questions about your person?
Where are you from?
What is your starting height?
What do you think about your proportions now?
How is your recovery so far?
Cheers!

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Hello

yes i should add this too:)

Height:172,5 now

Nails: 11 mm nail, 20 clicks for 1,04 mm(every clicks 0,052 mm)

Situation now:İ can walk without crutches,just for long distances in the outside like an hour walking, i am taking one of my crutch to feeling safe from other people.

Medications for now:Calcium,Magnesium pills

İ am still going to pysio to be better and better.Peter(Physiotherapist) knows everything about how can i be like before the surgery .My flexiblity is maybe %90 improved like before the surgery.İ am working on stability exercises and strength exercises in the gym.İ noticed that stability exercises are very important  it looks very easy but it is hard with new center of gravity and weak muscles.But everyday its improving i can feel.Of course everything is connected and important, so i am working on each one.

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So would you rate Betz as a good doctor?

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There are contradictory opinions about him in this forum. I dont know what to think...

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Hello heightangel

First, I should say that I didn't read any other comments or patient stories. I just know my situation and also patients around me.
I will explain my story a bit so you can know my situation better.

When I came for consultation in November 2013, I was with my cousin and my father. Both of them are doctors. Dr. Betz explained every detail about this operation and he gave very satisfying answers to our questions maybe for 3 hours. Then I decided to do this.

When I have my surgery later, he invited my cousin to the operation room to see the surgery. My cousin is also orthopaedist doctor. After operation my cousin told me he had never seen a surgeon like Dr.Betz. He said he is working very meticulous and very sensitive, he knows exactly what he does.

After operation I just listened to all of Dr. Betz advice. I was ın Orscholz and I went to physio 5 days in a week until I finish lenghtening.
I walked with my crutches as much as possible.

Whenever I needed him for check my situation or my questions, he is available for me. I am at Elke's house now and he is visiting us often. And i can say that i didn't have any tough problems. So I didn't need to call him for any special problem.

If I talk about my current situation, I can definetely say that his methods, his advice and what he did, they all completely worked on me.

So for your question, I think i can say that yes, he did excellent job on me and I rate him as a  great doctor.

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That is good that you are doing well September14. It is always good to see lengthening success stories because the lengthening mess ups from other doctors are so scary. Do you see many tibia patients there? Do you know if tibia patients with internals do as well as the femur patients for recovery?

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Hello Deepak Chopra

I don’t have so much personal experience about tibias. I just saw 3-4 tibia patients. They finished their lengthening with success.
But I think mostly patients are doing their femurs.

If you ask me why I did femurs, my proportions were suitable for femurs. In my opinion, tibias look harder, more scars and I think its more risky. If you can choose between tibias and femurs, go with femurs.
I also see some good patients who do both femurs and tibias. They do tibias before because longer consolidation time than femurs.

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Re: September14, Deepak Chopra

September14 is absolutely right. Femurs have a shorter consolidation than tibias for the internal nail. I think Dr. Betz told me that  tibias take twice as much time as femurs for bone growth. Also, I have seen maybe 1 tibia patient for every 3 femur patients. If you want to do both surgeries, definitely do tibias before femurs. There is also a lower lengthening limit for tibias than femurs. For some patients, it is 5cm. For other patients, it is 7cm. However, if you do more than 7cm with the internal nail, that is a major risk for proper recovery.

There was a tibia lengthening patient, who just had the surgery on his other leg during the week of my femur surgery. He told me that internal tibia lengthening can actually be easier than femur lengthening because you don't need much physiotherapy or osteopathy. Walking and using a stationary bike is enough to maintain a good condition. However, femurs are the preferable surgery to tibias because of the issues with the longer consolidation period and a higher risk for a sudden problem, like ballerina foot, drop step, or nerve problems.

- Raisin Bran

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Hello everyone;

İt was long time from last post.I just want to add news about my situation.

Yesterday I took new x-rays and Dr.Betz checked them.He said my bone healing is very good with this bone healing I can start to run,playing football and all the other extreme things.

I think I will start slowly exercises about running when my brain get used to my new long femurs and new center of gravity,then I can try to do other things.

Let me say something about my condition too.2 weeks ago i went Trier and I walked for 2 hours  without crutches and without any break in the city center.I saw that in real life there are so many little steps and unsteady ground on the way.But it was surprising for me that i can handle it easier.

Now I am still working with Peter.And I feel that it is very different from one month ago.
Sometimes i am going stairs 2 steps 2 steps,I can walk on the treadmill like 6.0 km/h speed,
I am doing football exercises with peter(like pass each other or when he throw the ball turning immediately and catching the ball).Also so many strength exercises for deep muscles in the leg,and stability exercises.


Everyday I am getting better and better.And I think from yesterday and with this good news,I can work more intensive to become like %100 before the surgery.