Surgery in Australia

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Hello all,

I have my first in person consult with the dr (previously had a phone consult with the nurse) who would be doing my sugery next week.

The consult alone is $500 so I would love to get some advice prior to going.

I am based in Australia and would be looking at doing the procedure here.

I am currently 5 foot 4 (just).

I would be hoping to add 5cm to each leg bone making me 5 foot 8 or so which would be a massive deal for someone so short.

Being this short as a male has made my life a lot harder than it need be.

I would love to hear from others this height as well as those also from Australia.

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Hey mate,

I’m also from Australia. I did my surgery with Dr. Betz in March and gained a bit over 7cm in the femurs and was also 5’4 to start with. I assume the consult you are talking about in Australia is with Dr. O’Carrigan? I also went for a consult with him last year and he I think he is a good option (only option in Australia as far as I’m concerned) but I wanted to use a weight bearing nail, hence why I went to Dr. Betz. Being 5’7 now from 5’4 has literally changed my life so I think you are making a good decision to help get rid of your neurosis.

Feel free to ask me any questions about my experience or my consult with O’Carrigan.

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Hello,

Thank you so so much for replying!

I was worried there would not be anyone to help me out.

Yes, it is with O' Carrigan.

Please do tell me more about your consult.

I am very much not keen on a non-weight bearing nail but with COVID I cannot see me being able to go overseas anytime soon.

May I ask why you did not do both bones?

Most importantly, could you please share how the surgery changed your life? Do you find you are treated better?

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I suppose cost was a big factor?

I know Dr O'Carrigans nurse was pretty sure I could get insurance to pay for it but I am not so sure.

I cannot see this being the case since you went overseas where insurance would have not covered you?

Can I ask how much it costed you?

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The nurse says that to everyone. From the OP in the O'Carrigan thread.

Getting Medicare approval usually requires being pretty below average height plus being able to demonstrate that it has amln adverse effect on your life, including reasonably serious mental issues.

You'll be up for well over $100,000 for femurs. The nurse says insurance will cover to all potential patients which is incredibly unprofessional and untrue.

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Many thanks for your reply.

I did see that but I am not entirely sure of it.

She said it with a lot of confidence and it seems so wrong to lie about that.

 I am just investigating further.

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Quote from: account5000 on August 01, 2021, 05:12:57 AMHello,

Thank you so so much for replying!

I was worried there would not be anyone to help me out.

Yes, it is with O' Carrigan.

Please do tell me more about your consult.

I am very much not keen on a non-weight bearing nail but with COVID I cannot see me being able to go overseas anytime soon.

May I ask why you did not do both bones?

Most importantly, could you please share how the surgery changed your life? Do you find you are treated better?

The consult was quite informative, however it is a group consult so be prepared to be questioned by multiple surgeons in a group setting and it can be quite intimidating as it is quite a private type of procedure. O'Carrigan himself is a very competent surgeon and trained under Paley however what Highest said about says about the insurance situation is true - I believe that they use that to draw you in as when I questioned them about it they were very vague about how I would actually get insurance to cover it and it seems to be the patients responsibility so I would not count on insurance covering it.

I did just the femurs as my goal was for the last 3 years has always been to do 7cm to get to 5'7 which I believe is the start of 'normal' height and starting from 5'4 and getting to 5'7 is a world of difference. I didn't want to to tibias due to the extra cost, rehab time, risk with doing tibias as opposed to femurs and further loss of athleticism. 7cm is a huge difference even if it doesn't sound like it is and that's more than enough for me.

My walk is about 85% normal at the moment but I am only 4.5 months post-surgery so I am starting to see the benefits of the surgery. I no longer feel small, I no longer think about my height in a negative way and when I am standing around other people I feel average and at their eye level for the first time in my life. I haven't seen the full benefit yet due to lockdowns and not being able to go out too much but from the way I feel mentally and the times I have been around others, I finally feel normal and not so self-conscious about my height. So it was a great investment for myself personally.

Quote from: account5000 on August 01, 2021, 05:18:10 AMI suppose cost was a big factor?

I know Dr O'Carrigans nurse was pretty sure I could get insurance to pay for it but I am not so sure.

I cannot see this being the case since you went overseas where insurance would have not covered you?

Can I ask how much it costed you?

Cost was a factor as at the time of my consult (last December), Stryde was still being used by O'Carrigan so I was considering him but without insurance coverage he is insanely expensive.

They are very vague about insurance coverage as I said and yes overseas I was not covered by insurance, however it was much cheaper than it would have been to do it with O'Carrigan without insurance. Definitely quiz them about the insurance aspect and I understand you wanting to do it here in Aus now due to the international border situation - I got lucky and was able to get a travel exemption back when they were easy to get.

Hope I answered your questions - feel free to ask any more.

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Thank you so much for putting effort into your reply. I appreciate it a lot.

Do you wear tall shoes or did you?

I often wear boots that give me just over 3 inches (7cm) in height which I find helps. That plus the 7cm from your surgery would be amazing!

What reason did you use to travel? Maybe I could do the same

I will surely ask about the insurance as the nurse sounded very sure of it being possible, in fact, she said that most patients get it.

Further, there is no information online re insurance for LL in Australia so I am not sure how I would even go about it beyond asking my health fund and ringing medicare.

May I ask where you went and how much it was?

Any tips re the questions they ask? That does sound quite scary!

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One other question, did you try to go ahead with Dr Tim with the insurance? If not why not? What made you decide to go overseas over trying?

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Quote from: account5000 on August 01, 2021, 09:59:32 AMThank you so much for putting effort into your reply. I appreciate it a lot.

Do you wear tall shoes or did you?

I often wear boots that give me just over 3 inches (7cm) in height which I find helps. That plus the 7cm from your surgery would be amazing!

What reason did you use to travel? Maybe I could do the same

I will surely ask about the insurance as the nurse sounded very sure of it being possible, in fact, she said that most patients get it.

Further, there is no information online re insurance for LL in Australia so I am not sure how I would even go about it beyond asking my health fund and ringing medicare.

May I ask where you went and how much it was?

Any tips re the questions they ask? That does sound quite scary!

I used to sometimes put 2 inch lifts in my boots if I had an event. Now I am happy just using the small 3cm lift on certain occasions as I can put them into any shoe.

I just said I was visiting family and didn't need to submit any evidence. You could try but now I understand that they require lots of document evidence to support your reason.

I went to Dr. Betz in Germany and it was roughly $78,000-80,000 AUD for femurs.

The questions they ask are mainly about your motivations on wanting to do it, how height has affected you and what you know about the procedure etc but don't worry too much.

Quote from: account5000 on August 01, 2021, 10:09:38 AMOne other question, did you try to go ahead with Dr Tim with the insurance? If not why not? What made you decide to go overseas over trying?

I didn't try as my insurance didn't mature until June (needs to be held for 12 months) and they also said that the best chance of getting insurance coverage was to hold top level insurance (most expensive insurance plans) of which I would have to hold for an additional 12 months so it wasn't worth the effort for the slight chance that they may cover it. I also needed to do it in March/April this year due to timing issues with work.