After postponing for years I have finally booked my appointment for April 2021 to do external Tibia 5-6cm (max) with dr Kulesh and Solomin. I lost my old account info but I’ve been on this forum for about 3-4 years.
I pulled the trigger one day and started planning and working toward it and told myself not to turn back on it. Can’t really believe I’m doing this, I was always serious about having LL done but actual going through the process I am barely holding myself from turning back. I already submitted me and my wife’s passport application ( she knows about this choice, told me she does not care at all about my height and did not want me going through with it, we are both 167cm). Everything in my life is going great, I have an exotic, I’m married to a beautiful person inside and out, I have attractive features, I have a decently successful business (with covid I make about half profit what I used to make before covid but still doing ok). Height is honestly the only thing really bothering me in life, of course life isn’t perfect and there are always other things but besides height those things are not that significant.
I am a 167cm 23 year old male from Florida. I have about 60k cash usd saved to my name. Originally, I was thinking about doing LON femur but told myself to just start off with tibia and do precise/stride the next year and just pay for it. This lengthening should not cost more than 12-15k usd for everything. Kulesh offers it at 4 different hospitals, One of them is double the price as the one I chose but I really don’t see that much difference in them besides that they are placed in a higher end area and the doctors speak English, and also the expensive one is a private clinic while the other is municipal.
Russia airbnb is about 500$ a month/4 star hotels 600-750$ a month. The airbnb is really nice. Going to a foreign country is pretty cool, I had a somewhat bad view of russian safety but online it says St. Petersburg is safe aside from pickpockets.
An important note, I have slightly moderate bowed legs, it never affected me much and I’m very active, but I hope to correct this also, I wonder if this will add 1-2cm
I’m trying to prepare as best as I can. A plus for me is that I will have someone to help me and take care of me during this process. Lengthening alone must be super mentally boring and emotionally challenging.
I have a million cautions running in my head, like what if my kidney is stolen, or if the anesthesiologist hurts me, or how am I going to react to a catheter. Solomin/kulesh seem good in the forum except for Android who had nerve damage but that probably was due to a risky method he used whatever happened to him? and also I believe he did 1.5mm a day? For femurs
An advantage I might have is that I used to wrestle in high school and run track, however after high school I sadly did pick up vaping/smoking hookah which I quit a couple months ago as it is bad for healing/bone consolidation. I am light but lean and muscular and plan on doing some heavy leg workouts before this surgery to aid with atrophy/stretching.
Please comment any advice, thoughts, etc
If all goes well, hopefully next year I will do internal femurs with giotikas or parihar since precise/stride isn’t certified in Russia by the government so they don’t allow it
Currently at 167cm, 6-7cm (considering bow leg correction added to lengthening) I will still be short but only by 1.5-2’ to the average in the us. At my height I’m in like the bottom 5-10 percentile, being 5’7 1/2 or 5’8 is really not that bad. Sure, it would be a lot better / great to be 8cm on top of that which is why I plan on going for femurs after, but even At my height with 1’inch lifts I have been able to accomplish a lot in life and also have had very attractive girlfriends even with my height in the past, which is why my height neurosis isn’t mentallly damaging to me as much, it’s not obsessive, but it is an insecurity I want to improve.
Edited* Reason I chose Russia 1: LL originated here 2:USD is strong against ruble, surgery and hotels are cheap (the price) 3: the experience of kulesh and Solomin
Obviously best choice would be paley since he’s 3hr drive from me or USA, but not everyone has 100k+ to blow
This hotel is 600$ a month, deciding between this and a very nice airbnb I saw
https://www.google.com/travel/hotels/Saint%20Petersburg/entity/ChkI7b--46-b_JsUGg0vZy8xMWMya3pkOV93EAE?g2lb=2502548%2C4258168%2C4306835%2C4317915%2C4328159%2C4371334%2C4401769%2C4416724%2C4419364%2C4463263%2C4463666%2C4464463%2C4481897%2C4482194%2C4482438%2C4485851%2C4491875%2C4270859%2C4284970&hl=en-US&gl=us&un=1&ap=MAFaAGgA&q=hotels%20in%20st%20petersburg%20russia&rp=ogEVU3QgUGV0ZXJzYnVyZywgUnVzc2lhOAFAAEgC&ictx=1&utm_campaign=sharing&utm_medium=link&utm_source=htls&hrf=CgQIPBAAEgIIGiIDVVNEKhYKBwjlDxAEGAESBwjlDxAEGA8YDiABsAEAWAFoAZoBFxIVU3QgUGV0ZXJzYnVyZywgUnVzc2lhogEcCggvbS8wNnByNhIQU2FpbnQgUGV0ZXJzYnVyZ6oBEwoCCCESAggVEgIILxIDCJECGAGqAQoKAggSEgIIaBgBqgEHCgMIoQIYAKoBDgoCCBwSAghzEgIINhgBqgEaCgIIERICCCoSAghAEgIIOBICCFcSAggrGAGqAQ8KAgguEgIIVhIDCIMBGAGqAQ8KAghQEgMIhAESAghMGAGSAQIgAQ&ved=0CAAQ5JsGahcKEwj459ek77TuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQCA
Set for external tibia dr Kulesh/Solomin April 2021
Why didn't you chose Dr. Paley?He's next door to you. Is it just because of the price?
Good luck with your lenghtening
fully externals or LON?
@limbfan2020 paley costs 100k + more for lodging and food and etc. this man has 60k.
android is slowly recovering. he definitely can walk decent and is mobile but its just his feet does not have full ankle movement yet. you can see his recovery on his instagram android_cll
and good luck it seems you decided yourself on going to russia so i hope you have a good trip and journey
Quote from: Limbfan2020 on January 24, 2021, 01:34:48 PMWhy didn't you chose Dr. Paley?He's next door to you. Is it just because of the price?
Good luck with your lenghtening
Of course. lol I don’t have 100k and if I did I probably wouldn’t give it all up for one surgery. Paley is like a 3 hour drive from me, sadly he doesn’t even offer any type of financing. Even if he took care credit they won’t approve me for more than 20-30k. If I do externals and then Stryde with mahboubian or parihar/buldu and end up paying 60-85k for 4.5-5inches of height that’s a fair enough trade off for me, paying 100k+100k for 5 inches is a little out the question. It took me about 3 years to save up 60k with my expenses (apartment, car note, etc). I wouldn’t even mind just getting tibias out the way and then financing/paying for femurs with mahboubian.
Of course some people might suggest “it’s your legs choose the best surgeon getting crippled isnt worth money saved” I would partially agree, but there are many other very experienced surgeons who might not be as good as paley but the results are the same/similar. I chose Solomin/kulesh because 1. They don’t really care to promote cll, so I don’t think it’s a money thing to them 2. Experience, not to mention LL originated from Russia/discovered in Russia 3. USD is strong against the ruble , so everything is Russia is cheap in usd, like food and hotel etc.
Of course I’d be way more comfortable doing this at home, but then again life isn’t at your convenience, gotta work with what ya can.
Quote from: ghkid2019 on January 24, 2021, 01:38:47 PMfully externals or LON?
paley costs 100k + more for lodging and food and etc. this man has 60k.
android is slowly recovering. he definitely can walk decent and is mobile but its just his feet does not have full ankle movement yet. you can see his recovery on his instagram android_cll
and good luck it seems you decided yourself on going to russia so i hope you have a good trip and journey
Thank you
I don’t want to do LON because I don’t like the idea of having a nail drilled through my knee and having to have it removed. For femurs I guess nails is the way to go but Solomin recommends fully external for tibia. If it is really inconvenient I may do LATN
Quote from: Activatedxx on January 24, 2021, 02:01:48 PMThank you
I don’t want to do LON because I don’t like the idea of having a nail drilled through my knee and having to have it removed. For femurs I guess nails is the way to go but Solomin recommends fully external for tibia. If it is really inconvenient I may do LATN
Hopefully you're okay with 8-10 months in frames for 5cm then. I think most diaries of externals I read have the person regretted not doing LON, simply because externals is wayy too long. Hopefully you are prepared for the long year you have upcoming. In the end it is the safest and best long term way to do LL. Just ridiculously long. Expect frames off in February 2022
Quote from: ghkid2019 on January 24, 2021, 02:19:24 PMHopefully you're okay with 8-10 months in frames for 5cm then. I think most diaries of externals I read have the person regretted not doing LON, simply because externals is wayy too long. Hopefully you are prepared for the long year you have upcoming. In the end it is the safest and best long term way to do LL. Just ridiculously long. Expect frames off in February 2022
I cannot do LON because I have slightly moderate bowed legs I would like to correct while lengthening. With Lengthening over Nail it is fixed so no correction can be made. My knees do not touch and my knees point slightly inward when standing feet straight with my ankles touching. I may do lengthening and then nailing (latn).
Bow legs causes arthritis and risk of knee problems as you get older, if you are physically active or overweight it increases the risk of knee replacement or knee pain etc
I’ve read that correcting bowed legs will increase your height 1-3cm depending on severity. I really don’t care realistically for 1cm but anything counts/better than nothing I guess
If I am for 5cm and get an extra 1-2cm from correction would be pretty cool
When I actually start my diary I will post pics of my bowed legs before the surgery
Oh, I see. Then I guess LATN would be a great compromise, nailing after the correction. And good luck with your bowlegs. It's good to fix that problem and potentially gain some height. Free money right there
Thanks for photos
Good luck to you. My experience was wonderful.
I too have a slight bowed leg that I would have corrected if I had more time to be in frames but life forces choices and time won.
Feel free to read my diary if you want additional information: http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=9660.msg100789#msg100789
Best of luck.
Hi activatedxx, well done on making the decision and good luck in April.
Could I ask about your bow leg issue? I too have bow legs - not extreme, but noticeable (and I'm always getting nutmegged when playing soccer, lol). I'm quite active, in my 30s, enjoy lifting weights, and I've been noticing some knee pain which I agree could be worsened due to knee misalignment caused by the bowed tibias.
I imagine you have already raised this matter with Drs Kulesh and Solomin? Could you possibly elaborate? Can the straightening be done in the initial surgery? Is it done during the lengthening process? And would it lengthen the overall process of LATN? I would be happy with straightened legs plus 4cm increase. At 0.75mm per day that would work out at approximately 2 months of lengthening before having the LATN nail inserted. Would it be necessary to wait longer, or do anything different, if bowleg correction is involved as well?
Many thanks again for your kind contributions
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