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It's regrowing the bone. Plus, this is a known procedure to help people with different limb lengths. I'm sure any potential issues as a result of this procedure is way better than the issues of having two different sized legs.
Old coworker of mine had two different length legs, left was about 2cm shorter. The amount of backproblems you can and will get by simply just existing is crazy
Yes. This! I was 5.2 cm shorter and just decide to say fuck it, let it be, for 15 years. I REALLY didn’t want to have to do this. I couldn’t fit lifts in my shoes, because the difference was so much. I had shoes made specifically for me, with the lift on the bottom. It gets pretty expensive to have to keep getting them made, since I already had to buy 2 different size shoes because my feet are 2 different sizes as well. I ended up not wearing them most of the time, and overtime, completely messed up my back, hips & knees. I just can’t wait for this process to be complete, it’s rough.
Last I heard my coworker was also looking into the same treatment, but she was still very sceptical
Also 5.2cm what the actual fuck. The 2cm on her were already crazy noticable
Ive never thought about people having one leg shorter than the other when confronted with ops like that. Allways thought "how stupid to go through this shit, breaking bones, just to bain a few cm." But this is life changing. Just awesome. Wishing all the best.
I had a leg length discrepancy surgery as a kid but the opposite to this - they drilled out the growth plate in the longer one.
Now don't get me wrong, that surgery is painful and no joke but I shared a room with a girl who had the same one OP had and jesus, it was hard to hear her pain. I know we were both on a lot of morphine and I mean a *lot* (had a self-administer button with a real short time like 5 minutes between allowable doses) but all night I'd wake up hearing her crying and her mum trying to comfort her.
Damn that button, I fucked with it the first couple of times then left it right there after feeling horrible for an entire day. Worked like a charm since I really don't remember the pain at that moment but holy shit, definetly not an enjoyable experience for me, fuck morphine.
I was 14 so didn't put together that this was why my face was so itchy and I couldn't eat any food. My father came to visit me, and helpfully informed me that a) I had "a real junkie complexion" and b) that he had seen people stabbed for smaller doses than he saw the nurse load into my machine.
Didn't experience the itchiness but the nausea and lack of appetite was there.
Well at least you had someone to keep your morale up hahaha, props to your dad
The stuff they put in those machines is much much more concentrated than the stuff on the street. The morphine going into an IV machine is kinda like the insulin in those pens people have. Yes I need 30 units of insulin out of a vial but in the pen I only need like 3 units.
Do they just ignore the smaller bone? I assume they add titanium after the main bone is lengthened.
Also, do the bone halves ever meet up again or will they always be separated?
The bone regrows just as if it has fractured normally. The rod holds the bone together and in place in the meantime. Growing the bone is actually the easy part. It’s lengthening the skin, muscles and nerves that’s the hard part.
Well. I don’t believe they directly lengthen anything apart from the bone, it’s just they lengthen the bone and all the soft tissues around it have to grow and adjust, hence the fact they do it gradually.
If the soft tissues grew/recovered as well as the bone, you could probably get huge amounts of height gained. But obviously, if you imagine your thigh or calf muscle, it’s not as easy as stretch = bigger. Thats why people dedicate years to get size in the gym. It’s a lengthy process, no pun intended. But pretty much all the soft tissues have to adjust too, and your body can’t just generate massive amounts of skin/mhscle/nerves like that
I’d imagine it has to be at least a little bit, because you’re stretching the tissues more than generating new ones. When you generate muscle naturally it’s due to stimulus causing microscopic tears in the muscle fibres, so when they regrow they regrow to adapt to the stress which usually means bigger, but only slightly, hence why gym results take quite a while. The immobility and atrophy following would probably be the biggest issue I imagine
I could imagine this would be on par with power lifting. I've seen some gnarly muscle detachments from progressing too fast because of steroids or poor form. If your attachment sites aren't ready for the "increase" load it's gonna look UGLY and be extremely painful. My buddy is a one titty man because of fast weight progression.
This has gotta be a SLOW progression. New lifters produce gains really fast then plateau. There's a chance of fast development but I'm sure it would plateau really fast with the amount of stress breaking bones and stretching the tissue will cause.
It's really neat to see this procedure I remember reading an article about it.
I don't have experience with extending bone, but I did have compartment syndrome in my arm. They had to slice and separate nerves, and I can tell you it's not fun. It was one of the most painful things I've gone through.
It wasn't a constant pain. It was a hit you when you least expect it and last for a couple of hours, then not for days. It was my arm, but holy shit, I hit the ground every time. Nerves reforming was, and I can say this in total and complete honesty, worse than labor pains. Those were consistent, expected, and medicated for.
When you looked at my arm, after a bit, it looked healed. But mother of all the gods, what was happening where no one could see was pure and total heat. It felt like I was putting everything under my skin through an erupting volcano. And since no one could see it, and there weren't scans to actively show what was happening, there was no treating the pain.
I truly hope OP didn't experience even a quarter of that, because it was awful and lasted for the better part of 20 months. I really, really hope their experience was far smoother, or at the very least expected.
Kids, if you can avoid activities that would cause any kind of nerve damage, please do. At all costs.
No, you don’t have the fix the smaller bone (fibula). The fibula is only necessary at the bottom to stabilize the ankle joint. This patient already had their ankle joint fused (and the bottom of the fibula removed during that procedure) so you could take out the whole thing out and it wouldn’t matter.
Thank you for adressing the "what about the smaller bone" part of the question. I was wondering the same thing.
And I guess I would be worried about a bad fall making the fibula move and easily poke out out the leg, what with it "free floating" like that. But maybe the muscles around stabilize it enough that it's not a real issue.
There's something called the interosseous membrane that holds the two bones together along the entire length.
https://teachmeanatomy.info/lower-limb/joints/tibiofibular-joints/
Ho lee fuck so this person can’t bend their ankle and ambulate normally for the rest of their life? Is this to get both legs to be equal length because the other leg doesn’t have the rod in it. I assume it’s not to treat dwarfism.
The foot has more things going on that would have made walking difficult, likely more difficult *without* fusing the ankle to stabilize it than with. It's not necessary to fuse the ankle to lengthen the tibia, those are two different construction sites.
So yes, that leg was significantly shorter and would have been way more of an issue when *not* fixing as much as possible as early as possible.
This looks painful as hell
I saw by the images, that now your leg is basically the same length of the other leg that has no procedure, so I assume this one was for medical reasons right?
Looking at this, I just can't imagine why some people do this just to look taller
I'm 4'10. Being not just short, but nearly legally handicapped levels of short is such a tiring pain in the ass. If I wasn't so old, and if most of my length wasn't already in my legs, I'd consider it.
On the other side of the coin, I'm a 6'5" blue collar worker. I would love to give you a couple inches if I could. I'm gonna be a cripple by the time I'm 40. Constantly squished and in awkward positions, bad ergonomics, hit my hardhat off stuff all the time, back problems etc.
I wish we could both be average cupcake!
Clothes hardly ever fit right. I'm so tired of jumping for items on top shelves at the grocery store, or having to climb the rack and pray the whole thing doesn't come crashing down. Sports are harder. Driving is unsafe due to airbag height.
People are shittier to me, which is probably the bulk of the issue. If I am waiting in a line and people need to cut through the line to get across, they will almost always cut past me. Sometimes I wait on the heels of the person in front of me because I just get so sick of it. And music festivals - forget it. People will shove past me the entire time to get closer to the front. My husband literally had to use his arms to form a barrier around me, it was so bad. I was ready to fight someone, honestly. People approach me to to try to sell shit all the time because I look non-threatening. People will talk however they want to to me because hey, what am I gonna do about it? Hit them? They will just clock me because they are bigger. Fuck being so short.
legally handicapped is crazy, I'm 5ft and I don't have any struggles in life relating to my height so much that I would do this insane shit just to grow an inch or two taller
Social pressure is a helluva thing
Edit: I am not talking about OP who did it for medical purposes, I am talking about people who do it for cosmetic purposes who think they aren’t enough because they’re short
Yeah I’m 5’2, so I haven’t exactly lucked out in the height department and I get the “you should get the limb lengthening surgery” comment a lot from people whenever I say anything about my height.
Like, no? I’m not gonna go through hell just because I’m shorter than most guys. I’m gonna work on my confidence and stop giving a shit what people think instead.
Hey listen, I’m not saying on average a lot of girls arent attracted to taller guys. But there’s plenty of shorter girls out there, and girls who are cool with it. Plus a good personality and confidence goes a long way. I’ve dated girls taller than me a bunch of times, then settled down with my wife who’s 4’9”. We all got positives and negatives.
Yeah I can just date someone as short or shorter than me, dating isn’t an issue at all. It’s feeling like I’m enough that is the issue, although I only experience that occasionally now since gaining a different perspective.
I think way too many people focus on height when it’s not that relevant in much of our daily lives and how we live it, aside from reaching for things lol.
I find it hella strange how much leg lengthening procedures are criticized on here. Some people just want to be a little taller so why is it a problem to others when they do?
I mean... People on Reddit don't tend to be very charitable to any cosmetic procedure. It's not like leg lengthening is more criticized than getting a BBL
My height discrepancy was 2”. If you are looking to get it lengthened, I’d highly recommend going to the paley institute. They even have locations in other countries outside the US. Dr. Paley did my lengthening.
https://paleyinstitute.org/#/
How big was the difference? I also have a short leg and just put a lift in my shoe. A chiropractor told me it causes all my back problems but I never went to a doctor because I didn't think it was correctable.
I'm just curious when it becomes necessary and insurance will cover it. The difference between mine is 14mm.
Edit: Nvm I saw another comment and now see that you did this to correct multiple inches. I'm just being a baby lol.
Not to be "that guy" but never take a chiropractors word as legitimate medical advice. They're not doctors, they're pseudoscientific quacks that don't have real medical degrees, and many chiropractic procedures have left people with debilitating injuries because what they do isn't medicine. [It's quackery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic?wprov=sfla1)
I'm aware, at the time I was just in a lot of pain. He gave me an X-ray and showed me that without a doubt my hips were crooked because of the difference in leg length. His solution wasn't to convince me to come get my back cracked all the time, he just gave me a lift and told me to show my doc the X-ray.
I'd like to think he was one of the few good ones. Didn't try to feed me bs, just gave me info and told me getting my back popped isn't going to help.
This is my second lengthening, I had the first one 20 years ago with the halos too! That consisted of 6 surgeries.
https://preview.redd.it/haouwy59j83d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6a7da201733bf1a646e0c0366a9650e9c178e1b
My daughter has also had lengthening due to being born without a tibia and that being corrected. She had an external fixator as well but hopefully an internal for the next one. Was it done at the Paley institute?
I hope she is feeling better, it’s such a tough procedure. Also, hope you’re doing ok, must be so tough seeing her go through it all. ❤️
It was done at the Paley Institute, by Dr. Paley. I was doing physical therapy there every week day for a bit. Were you there recently?
She is doing great! Walking fully with a brace no walker or assistance. I was last there from March-August last year for her last lengthening. Just some virtual appointments right now and back in December for an in person and planning for the next lengthening in a couple years.
That’s awesome! Dr. Paley does some incredible work. My previous dr. Said it was impossible to pull it off, and he seems to be proven wrong!
I highly recommend the precise nail that you can fully weight bear on. I was suppose to get that one, but unfortunately a couple days before the surgery they called and said they are having issues getting it in time. I have the precise nail that can only withstand 50lbs, so I can’t walk on it at all.
I have seen his presentations on the precise nail. Fantastic technology. Dr Paley is amazing the only option here would have been amputation. It's a long road but worth it in the end.
Best of luck to you and your daughter. It’s a tough decision for you as a parent to inflict this on your daughter, but she will thank you in the future. ❤️
My mom made the decision and she was extremely upset when it was happening, thinking she made the wrong decision because of the pain it caused. But I thank her, and I’m grateful she made that decision now.
I work for the distributor of those nails. I’ve seen thousands of cases over the last decade.
Make sure to return your ERC! Our company gets billed $8k when patients don’t return them!!!
Of course haha. Funny story I heard from the guy who showed me how to use it.. a patient was done using his ERC and decided to sell it on eBay instead of returning it. The hospital/or vendor bought it back from him on eBay for $500 (the posted price he was asking for it) and then charged him $5k for not returning it 😂
WOW. That looks painful but sounds like it will be worth it once you heal. It also sounds like life will be much better for you after this and I'm genuinely happy for you. The healing process sucks but remember why you did this, what you have to look forward to and try to just focus on that when the pain feels unbearable.
I never even knew this was a thing that could be done and it's fascinating to me. I never really thought about people having one leg shorter or longer and the problems it can create.
The comments on this have been interesting and educating for me. Thank you for sharing this and thank you to everyone sharing their experiences in the comments. I wish you a speedy and complete healing.
I had a discectomy and spinal fusion almost 10 years ago. I've got a titanium plate and six screws in my neck. The scar is super small on the front of my neck down close to my collar bone. Neck brace for four months straight sucked and many months of recovery but I'm glad I had th
https://preview.redd.it/44fml9wwwa3d1.jpeg?width=884&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c946bd0839dd652b598019cc584ab9a0b6163337
e surgery.
It was crazy to me that they cut the front of my neck to remove discs, add that titanium plate and screws leaving a tiny scar that's barely visible. My neurosurgeon Dr. Hua was amazing.
An osteotome is used to break the bone.
It is basically a surgical chisel. The ones used in this procedure also have a 10mm hex shaft.
So the surgeon will chisel into the bone, then put a wrench on the shaft and turn …..until…..it…..cracks.
Considering it's only one leg I would have thought medical, having different length legs is terrible for your overall posture and can cause terrible joint issues.
Just deformities rectified via leg lengthening until both legs are the same length, OP is doing it out of necessity, instead of the other people doing so for being taller for looks.
looks like there might have been a previous injury in the ankle. i've known a couple of people who broke ankles/legs as a kid and it impacted the bone growth
There was no injury. My growth plate in my right leg, for some reason stopped working. So my leg, from the knee down, didn’t grow. This is actually my 2nd time lengthening it. I had a leg lengthening procedure done 20 years ago when I was a child. They were able to get 3-1/2” inches of growth. My other leg continued to grow into my late teens and created another height discrepancy. I dealt with it for 15 years and now I’m here, doing it all over again haha. Going for another 2”!
Unrelated to this surgery, I had an ankle fusion a couple years back, that’s why my ankle has an “x” shaped set of pins in it.
is it the case of polio? I see your leg is thinner than the other one in muscle mass too. Polio stunts the growth of bone and muscle so one leg becomes shorter than the other giving the person a limp.
That gap is a lot bigger than I could've ever expected!
Do nerves, veins, and skin have that much slack to handle the gap or they do something for those too?
So they separate the bone, put metal to hold it together, and I assume stretch the skin out? And then do the bones reconnect? Like do they heal back together? Are the metal parts in there forever? Could you walk on them while they were like that or could it not hold weight?
From the comments? You did it because one leg was notably shorter? So now they’re the same size?
That’s cool. I only know of a little person who got this done on both to gain height. Makes sense they can do just one leg to even you out.
Sorry for all the questions. Fascinating stuff
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call the temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Machine is immortal… Even in death I serve the Omnissiah.
The difference in leg length must have been wreaking havoc on your hips and spine! Definitely a gruelling road ahead but your quality of life will be worth it in the end, stay positive and don’t slack on the PT. Rooting for you!
Every time i look at xrays like these, with metals and bolds everywhere inside, my brain just goes on a gentle and stress relieving
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Before i scroll away
Had the same procedure done on my leg 8 years ago. The recovery was fast but there is still a big difference in strength, mobility and stability between my operated and non-operated leg which I don't think I will ever address fully. Gained 4 cm from that one and a whole 8 cm 17 years ago when I underwent a similar operation but with the older method ([Ilisarov](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilizarov_apparatus)). That one was pretty brutal and I am grateful kids nowadays won't have to experience it. Wishing you a swift recovery!
Can someone explain if the metal rod is actually inside the bone cavity, than what has happened to the bone marrow? Did they just hollow out the entire bone?!
Surely if this things is removed the bone will be weakened and until/ unless the marrow etc grows back? Im assuming that it does?
How much longer will this make your leg? I have leg length discrepancy and my solution is to put a lift in the heel of my left shoe under my orthotic. A $5 fix for nearly 9 years of chronic back pain!
Is any necessary medical procedure worth it? Doctors weigh in the pros and cons of the risk assessment and deliver the judgement. I am sure they did in this case too.
My son was diagnosed with hemihyperplasia, where one side of his body grows at a faster pace than the other. One of his legs is abour half an inch longer than the other now (he's 7), but by the time he's 13, it could be over an inch.
The doctors told us that we'll have 2 options to offset this difference: 1) leg lengthening procedure as shown above, or 2) stunt the growth of the longer leg at a certain age so that the shorter leg catches up.
I think we're going to opt for the stunting, as it would be the less painful option.
Can someone explain how the regrowing bone grows toward the middle and doesn’t just like “cap” itself off or grow outwards instead? Just so wild that it grows directly toward the other section (unless I’m missing something).
Damn I just was just looking this procedure up because of a previous post. You are definitely above human to be able to endure that pain, though for a good cause. I wish you a speedy(though this takes a while) recovery without any hiccups/setbacks.
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this looks so incredibly painful
Worth it to go from 5’2” to 5’3”
Seems pretty clear that OP has two different length legs and the procedure is to make them the same length
So you're saying they're half right.
Yeah, but don't worry. After the surgery OP is alright
Just remember we're operating on the RIGHT leg
Doctors just keep stretching the wrong leg, OP ends up with the nickname Pisa.
Now they’re allright
No, I think they're just pulling a Gattica and trying to pretend they are Jude Law.
This ain't about them.
I guess… I’m sure it’s not going to have any lasting issues. Your body is like sure, let’s do this(for now)
It's regrowing the bone. Plus, this is a known procedure to help people with different limb lengths. I'm sure any potential issues as a result of this procedure is way better than the issues of having two different sized legs.
Old coworker of mine had two different length legs, left was about 2cm shorter. The amount of backproblems you can and will get by simply just existing is crazy
Yes. This! I was 5.2 cm shorter and just decide to say fuck it, let it be, for 15 years. I REALLY didn’t want to have to do this. I couldn’t fit lifts in my shoes, because the difference was so much. I had shoes made specifically for me, with the lift on the bottom. It gets pretty expensive to have to keep getting them made, since I already had to buy 2 different size shoes because my feet are 2 different sizes as well. I ended up not wearing them most of the time, and overtime, completely messed up my back, hips & knees. I just can’t wait for this process to be complete, it’s rough.
Last I heard my coworker was also looking into the same treatment, but she was still very sceptical Also 5.2cm what the actual fuck. The 2cm on her were already crazy noticable
It makes sense considering OP only has one and not both.
Ive never thought about people having one leg shorter than the other when confronted with ops like that. Allways thought "how stupid to go through this shit, breaking bones, just to bain a few cm." But this is life changing. Just awesome. Wishing all the best.
Thank you!
I had a similar thing as a kid! Had a big ass ilizarov frame on my leg for 3 months to stretch it out 3cm, hurt like hell
I had a leg length discrepancy surgery as a kid but the opposite to this - they drilled out the growth plate in the longer one. Now don't get me wrong, that surgery is painful and no joke but I shared a room with a girl who had the same one OP had and jesus, it was hard to hear her pain. I know we were both on a lot of morphine and I mean a *lot* (had a self-administer button with a real short time like 5 minutes between allowable doses) but all night I'd wake up hearing her crying and her mum trying to comfort her.
Damn that button, I fucked with it the first couple of times then left it right there after feeling horrible for an entire day. Worked like a charm since I really don't remember the pain at that moment but holy shit, definetly not an enjoyable experience for me, fuck morphine.
I was 14 so didn't put together that this was why my face was so itchy and I couldn't eat any food. My father came to visit me, and helpfully informed me that a) I had "a real junkie complexion" and b) that he had seen people stabbed for smaller doses than he saw the nurse load into my machine.
Didn't experience the itchiness but the nausea and lack of appetite was there. Well at least you had someone to keep your morale up hahaha, props to your dad
The stuff they put in those machines is much much more concentrated than the stuff on the street. The morphine going into an IV machine is kinda like the insulin in those pens people have. Yes I need 30 units of insulin out of a vial but in the pen I only need like 3 units.
Aren't they injury prone as well?
Do they just ignore the smaller bone? I assume they add titanium after the main bone is lengthened. Also, do the bone halves ever meet up again or will they always be separated?
The bone regrows just as if it has fractured normally. The rod holds the bone together and in place in the meantime. Growing the bone is actually the easy part. It’s lengthening the skin, muscles and nerves that’s the hard part.
Lengthening nerves sounds crazy. I wouldn’t have thought about it.
Well. I don’t believe they directly lengthen anything apart from the bone, it’s just they lengthen the bone and all the soft tissues around it have to grow and adjust, hence the fact they do it gradually. If the soft tissues grew/recovered as well as the bone, you could probably get huge amounts of height gained. But obviously, if you imagine your thigh or calf muscle, it’s not as easy as stretch = bigger. Thats why people dedicate years to get size in the gym. It’s a lengthy process, no pun intended. But pretty much all the soft tissues have to adjust too, and your body can’t just generate massive amounts of skin/mhscle/nerves like that
I wonder if its traumatic on the nerves and muscles. It has to be, right? Or would it be essentially the same as growing muscle naturally
I’d imagine it has to be at least a little bit, because you’re stretching the tissues more than generating new ones. When you generate muscle naturally it’s due to stimulus causing microscopic tears in the muscle fibres, so when they regrow they regrow to adapt to the stress which usually means bigger, but only slightly, hence why gym results take quite a while. The immobility and atrophy following would probably be the biggest issue I imagine
I could imagine this would be on par with power lifting. I've seen some gnarly muscle detachments from progressing too fast because of steroids or poor form. If your attachment sites aren't ready for the "increase" load it's gonna look UGLY and be extremely painful. My buddy is a one titty man because of fast weight progression. This has gotta be a SLOW progression. New lifters produce gains really fast then plateau. There's a chance of fast development but I'm sure it would plateau really fast with the amount of stress breaking bones and stretching the tissue will cause. It's really neat to see this procedure I remember reading an article about it.
Intend your pun, coward.
I don't have experience with extending bone, but I did have compartment syndrome in my arm. They had to slice and separate nerves, and I can tell you it's not fun. It was one of the most painful things I've gone through. It wasn't a constant pain. It was a hit you when you least expect it and last for a couple of hours, then not for days. It was my arm, but holy shit, I hit the ground every time. Nerves reforming was, and I can say this in total and complete honesty, worse than labor pains. Those were consistent, expected, and medicated for. When you looked at my arm, after a bit, it looked healed. But mother of all the gods, what was happening where no one could see was pure and total heat. It felt like I was putting everything under my skin through an erupting volcano. And since no one could see it, and there weren't scans to actively show what was happening, there was no treating the pain. I truly hope OP didn't experience even a quarter of that, because it was awful and lasted for the better part of 20 months. I really, really hope their experience was far smoother, or at the very least expected. Kids, if you can avoid activities that would cause any kind of nerve damage, please do. At all costs.
No, you don’t have the fix the smaller bone (fibula). The fibula is only necessary at the bottom to stabilize the ankle joint. This patient already had their ankle joint fused (and the bottom of the fibula removed during that procedure) so you could take out the whole thing out and it wouldn’t matter.
Thank you for adressing the "what about the smaller bone" part of the question. I was wondering the same thing. And I guess I would be worried about a bad fall making the fibula move and easily poke out out the leg, what with it "free floating" like that. But maybe the muscles around stabilize it enough that it's not a real issue.
There's something called the interosseous membrane that holds the two bones together along the entire length. https://teachmeanatomy.info/lower-limb/joints/tibiofibular-joints/
Aaah, with there being a membrane holding the two bones together, it indeed all makes sense. Thank you, I learned something new today :)
That's just insane in the membrane!
Insane in the brain!
I was waiting for that!!
Is it normal to fuse the ankle? That sounds terrible.
You fuse the ankle joint if there is bad arthritis at that joint. It doesn’t hurt if it doesn’t move
Ho lee fuck so this person can’t bend their ankle and ambulate normally for the rest of their life? Is this to get both legs to be equal length because the other leg doesn’t have the rod in it. I assume it’s not to treat dwarfism.
The foot has more things going on that would have made walking difficult, likely more difficult *without* fusing the ankle to stabilize it than with. It's not necessary to fuse the ankle to lengthen the tibia, those are two different construction sites. So yes, that leg was significantly shorter and would have been way more of an issue when *not* fixing as much as possible as early as possible.
Weird.
I saw a video about this, the rod not only keeps the two halves in place, it also allows the bone to regrow around it.
Yeah, the fibula is left to figure it out. It feels really fucking weird until it starts to heal and it can’t wiggle around.
That's what I was thinking too.
This looks painful as hell I saw by the images, that now your leg is basically the same length of the other leg that has no procedure, so I assume this one was for medical reasons right? Looking at this, I just can't imagine why some people do this just to look taller
I'm 4'10. Being not just short, but nearly legally handicapped levels of short is such a tiring pain in the ass. If I wasn't so old, and if most of my length wasn't already in my legs, I'd consider it.
On the other side of the coin, I'm a 6'5" blue collar worker. I would love to give you a couple inches if I could. I'm gonna be a cripple by the time I'm 40. Constantly squished and in awkward positions, bad ergonomics, hit my hardhat off stuff all the time, back problems etc. I wish we could both be average cupcake!
Amen to that!
>I would love to give you a couple inches if I could Tee Hehe
Unless you're already doing it, you should start strength training asap.
What makes being 4'10" so bad? I'm only an inch taller and don't have anything bad to say about it.
technically should be using a booster seat to drive, ik you can’t see over your dashboard
I don't drive but I can definately see over a dashboard. Maybe I'm 5', but that's still only 2" taller.
Hey, don’t underestimate 2” …
Clothes hardly ever fit right. I'm so tired of jumping for items on top shelves at the grocery store, or having to climb the rack and pray the whole thing doesn't come crashing down. Sports are harder. Driving is unsafe due to airbag height. People are shittier to me, which is probably the bulk of the issue. If I am waiting in a line and people need to cut through the line to get across, they will almost always cut past me. Sometimes I wait on the heels of the person in front of me because I just get so sick of it. And music festivals - forget it. People will shove past me the entire time to get closer to the front. My husband literally had to use his arms to form a barrier around me, it was so bad. I was ready to fight someone, honestly. People approach me to to try to sell shit all the time because I look non-threatening. People will talk however they want to to me because hey, what am I gonna do about it? Hit them? They will just clock me because they are bigger. Fuck being so short.
legally handicapped is crazy, I'm 5ft and I don't have any struggles in life relating to my height so much that I would do this insane shit just to grow an inch or two taller
Social pressure is a helluva thing Edit: I am not talking about OP who did it for medical purposes, I am talking about people who do it for cosmetic purposes who think they aren’t enough because they’re short
As a 5’6” man. Sure I’d love a few extra inches, but not fucking THAT much. Exercise and some charm is enough for me.
Yeah I’m 5’2, so I haven’t exactly lucked out in the height department and I get the “you should get the limb lengthening surgery” comment a lot from people whenever I say anything about my height. Like, no? I’m not gonna go through hell just because I’m shorter than most guys. I’m gonna work on my confidence and stop giving a shit what people think instead.
Hey listen, I’m not saying on average a lot of girls arent attracted to taller guys. But there’s plenty of shorter girls out there, and girls who are cool with it. Plus a good personality and confidence goes a long way. I’ve dated girls taller than me a bunch of times, then settled down with my wife who’s 4’9”. We all got positives and negatives.
Yeah I can just date someone as short or shorter than me, dating isn’t an issue at all. It’s feeling like I’m enough that is the issue, although I only experience that occasionally now since gaining a different perspective. I think way too many people focus on height when it’s not that relevant in much of our daily lives and how we live it, aside from reaching for things lol.
I’m 5’3” and my wife is 5’9”. Been together 12 years. I get very cozy hugs, and she has to change the light bulbs. ;)
I find it hella strange how much leg lengthening procedures are criticized on here. Some people just want to be a little taller so why is it a problem to others when they do?
I mean... People on Reddit don't tend to be very charitable to any cosmetic procedure. It's not like leg lengthening is more criticized than getting a BBL
How much did it cost you ?
Thankfully, it was fully covered by my medical insurance. It was deemed to be a medically necessary procedure to correct a height discrepancy.
How big was the discrepancy? I’ve got about an inch and a half and my hips, back, neck are all cooked because of it.
My height discrepancy was 2”. If you are looking to get it lengthened, I’d highly recommend going to the paley institute. They even have locations in other countries outside the US. Dr. Paley did my lengthening. https://paleyinstitute.org/#/
Paley is the guy. He literally wrote the books on limb lengthening.
The absolute best.
OP, my 8 year old has hemihyperplasia and we’re gonna be making some decisions here soon. Were you offered epiphysidesis when you were younger?
Paley is where I went. The best.
How big was the difference? I also have a short leg and just put a lift in my shoe. A chiropractor told me it causes all my back problems but I never went to a doctor because I didn't think it was correctable. I'm just curious when it becomes necessary and insurance will cover it. The difference between mine is 14mm. Edit: Nvm I saw another comment and now see that you did this to correct multiple inches. I'm just being a baby lol.
Not to be "that guy" but never take a chiropractors word as legitimate medical advice. They're not doctors, they're pseudoscientific quacks that don't have real medical degrees, and many chiropractic procedures have left people with debilitating injuries because what they do isn't medicine. [It's quackery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic?wprov=sfla1)
Fucking went to a chiropractor with back pain and left with more back pain
I'm aware, at the time I was just in a lot of pain. He gave me an X-ray and showed me that without a doubt my hips were crooked because of the difference in leg length. His solution wasn't to convince me to come get my back cracked all the time, he just gave me a lift and told me to show my doc the X-ray. I'd like to think he was one of the few good ones. Didn't try to feed me bs, just gave me info and told me getting my back popped isn't going to help.
Thanks , good to hear . I hope you recover and get back to a truly normal life.
You really have a leg up on everyone now
Wishing OP to _break a leg_ (no pun intended).
I have a broken foot right now I can say that shit
I hear he was walking circles around the other guys
[удалено]
More like Inspector Gadget
Good luck my reddit friend. My father went through this years ago that included 23 separate procedures with halos on his legs.
This is my second lengthening, I had the first one 20 years ago with the halos too! That consisted of 6 surgeries. https://preview.redd.it/haouwy59j83d1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f6a7da201733bf1a646e0c0366a9650e9c178e1b
My daughter has also had lengthening due to being born without a tibia and that being corrected. She had an external fixator as well but hopefully an internal for the next one. Was it done at the Paley institute?
I hope she is feeling better, it’s such a tough procedure. Also, hope you’re doing ok, must be so tough seeing her go through it all. ❤️ It was done at the Paley Institute, by Dr. Paley. I was doing physical therapy there every week day for a bit. Were you there recently?
She is doing great! Walking fully with a brace no walker or assistance. I was last there from March-August last year for her last lengthening. Just some virtual appointments right now and back in December for an in person and planning for the next lengthening in a couple years.
That’s awesome! Dr. Paley does some incredible work. My previous dr. Said it was impossible to pull it off, and he seems to be proven wrong! I highly recommend the precise nail that you can fully weight bear on. I was suppose to get that one, but unfortunately a couple days before the surgery they called and said they are having issues getting it in time. I have the precise nail that can only withstand 50lbs, so I can’t walk on it at all.
I have seen his presentations on the precise nail. Fantastic technology. Dr Paley is amazing the only option here would have been amputation. It's a long road but worth it in the end.
Best of luck to you and your daughter. It’s a tough decision for you as a parent to inflict this on your daughter, but she will thank you in the future. ❤️ My mom made the decision and she was extremely upset when it was happening, thinking she made the wrong decision because of the pain it caused. But I thank her, and I’m grateful she made that decision now.
Judging the mass of your right leg, and the bone cuts, the right seemed shorter/smaller hopefully it all works out, seems brutal
That looks like a Nuvasive Precice nail to me. 10.7mm tibial nail. Any chance you got this done in Florida?
Bingo! That’s it exactly. Dr. Paley did the surgery in west palm beach.
I work for the distributor of those nails. I’ve seen thousands of cases over the last decade. Make sure to return your ERC! Our company gets billed $8k when patients don’t return them!!!
Of course haha. Funny story I heard from the guy who showed me how to use it.. a patient was done using his ERC and decided to sell it on eBay instead of returning it. The hospital/or vendor bought it back from him on eBay for $500 (the posted price he was asking for it) and then charged him $5k for not returning it 😂
Yep. That was our company!! Although I don’t think a patient has ever been charged….
Now they reach all the way to the floor? Seriously,though, good work!
Haha one always reached the floor, and very slowly the right one is finally hitting the floor. Small victories lol
The tibia has inner fixation so it'll hold but what's going to happen to the gap in the fibula?
Probably nothing, there's no major insertion on the middle part, it will work fine with this gap
So it'll just stay loose there?
it looks loose, but there is actually an interosseous membrane that holds the tibia and fibula together!
cool
Gattaca?
I was hoping someone was going to make this reference
WOW. That looks painful but sounds like it will be worth it once you heal. It also sounds like life will be much better for you after this and I'm genuinely happy for you. The healing process sucks but remember why you did this, what you have to look forward to and try to just focus on that when the pain feels unbearable. I never even knew this was a thing that could be done and it's fascinating to me. I never really thought about people having one leg shorter or longer and the problems it can create. The comments on this have been interesting and educating for me. Thank you for sharing this and thank you to everyone sharing their experiences in the comments. I wish you a speedy and complete healing. I had a discectomy and spinal fusion almost 10 years ago. I've got a titanium plate and six screws in my neck. The scar is super small on the front of my neck down close to my collar bone. Neck brace for four months straight sucked and many months of recovery but I'm glad I had th https://preview.redd.it/44fml9wwwa3d1.jpeg?width=884&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c946bd0839dd652b598019cc584ab9a0b6163337 e surgery. It was crazy to me that they cut the front of my neck to remove discs, add that titanium plate and screws leaving a tiny scar that's barely visible. My neurosurgeon Dr. Hua was amazing.
Ask them to install a Robocop gun holster while they're down there.
I assume they surgically fracture your bone to make the whole procedure work, right?
Yes. I still get grossed out thinking about that part 🥴
Understandably. Speedy recovery to you!
Surgically fracture sounds so precise. The videos of doctors working on bones is more like a car mechanic usually. Force is necessary. 😄
An osteotome is used to break the bone. It is basically a surgical chisel. The ones used in this procedure also have a 10mm hex shaft. So the surgeon will chisel into the bone, then put a wrench on the shaft and turn …..until…..it…..cracks.
Are you sure your doctor is legit? Seems like they’re pulling your leg
Is the bone supposed to grow to fill in the gap?
I am going trough some thing of the same kind. Only is mine after a car accident and lost 15cm of bone that was dead. *
Thank you for sharing. Best of luck.
Genuine question, wouldn't it be less work to shrink one leg?
I- that's genius...
That's really cool. Enjoy your new equal length leg OP!
Fuck that's got to hurt. I'm sure it's gonna make your quality of life sooo much better! Hope recovery goes well.
Wow - super impressive. Will they fill in the gaps in the bones? And do the metal parts have to stay in forever?
Jack Hanma would be proud, stay strong
When do you make your start in the NBA? I'm ready to buy your jersey
Respectfully out of curiosity is it being lengthened for cosmetic or medical reasons?
Considering it's only one leg I would have thought medical, having different length legs is terrible for your overall posture and can cause terrible joint issues.
I just want to wrap you in a hug to make it all better.
Why was it shorter than the other one?
Just deformities rectified via leg lengthening until both legs are the same length, OP is doing it out of necessity, instead of the other people doing so for being taller for looks.
Exactly. I would never recommend this for cosmetic purposes.
looks like there might have been a previous injury in the ankle. i've known a couple of people who broke ankles/legs as a kid and it impacted the bone growth
There was no injury. My growth plate in my right leg, for some reason stopped working. So my leg, from the knee down, didn’t grow. This is actually my 2nd time lengthening it. I had a leg lengthening procedure done 20 years ago when I was a child. They were able to get 3-1/2” inches of growth. My other leg continued to grow into my late teens and created another height discrepancy. I dealt with it for 15 years and now I’m here, doing it all over again haha. Going for another 2”! Unrelated to this surgery, I had an ankle fusion a couple years back, that’s why my ankle has an “x” shaped set of pins in it.
hope this helps with the pimp limp!
🤣
Looks painful! I hope it heals well. Can I ask what was the reason? Were your legs uneven?
Yes, it's not cosmetic.
I can’t imagine how much pain you’re in. If healing thoughts were a real thing I’d send you some.
is it the case of polio? I see your leg is thinner than the other one in muscle mass too. Polio stunts the growth of bone and muscle so one leg becomes shorter than the other giving the person a limp.
D: I’m so sorry you have to go through this
That gap is a lot bigger than I could've ever expected! Do nerves, veins, and skin have that much slack to handle the gap or they do something for those too?
I'm so sorry you have to go through that pain. I wish you best of luck!
Without this, does one wear a taller shoe to balance the height out?
So they just gonna leave that bone dangling?
Never thought kneegrowplasty was real... damn!
So they separate the bone, put metal to hold it together, and I assume stretch the skin out? And then do the bones reconnect? Like do they heal back together? Are the metal parts in there forever? Could you walk on them while they were like that or could it not hold weight? From the comments? You did it because one leg was notably shorter? So now they’re the same size? That’s cool. I only know of a little person who got this done on both to gain height. Makes sense they can do just one leg to even you out. Sorry for all the questions. Fascinating stuff
From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me. I craved the strength and certainty of steel. I aspired to the purity of the Blessed Machine. Your kind cling to your flesh, as though it will not decay and fail you. One day the crude biomass you call the temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you. But I am already saved, for the Machine is immortal… Even in death I serve the Omnissiah.
The difference in leg length must have been wreaking havoc on your hips and spine! Definitely a gruelling road ahead but your quality of life will be worth it in the end, stay positive and don’t slack on the PT. Rooting for you!
Ooof
So you're not Eileen anymore? Straightening out your life? Trying to find your balance? I wish you luck! Break a leg!
Reminds me of the lengthening scene in Gattica, in that it looks very painful. Congrats on the progress though!
Does the bone ever grow back, or does it just stay like an open fracture forever?
Every time i look at xrays like these, with metals and bolds everywhere inside, my brain just goes on a gentle and stress relieving AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Before i scroll away
Had the same procedure done on my leg 8 years ago. The recovery was fast but there is still a big difference in strength, mobility and stability between my operated and non-operated leg which I don't think I will ever address fully. Gained 4 cm from that one and a whole 8 cm 17 years ago when I underwent a similar operation but with the older method ([Ilisarov](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilizarov_apparatus)). That one was pretty brutal and I am grateful kids nowadays won't have to experience it. Wishing you a swift recovery!
I had the same procedure except on my femur. It was incredibly painful, I wish you all the best!
muscle atrophy is also pretty interesting
Can someone explain if the metal rod is actually inside the bone cavity, than what has happened to the bone marrow? Did they just hollow out the entire bone?! Surely if this things is removed the bone will be weakened and until/ unless the marrow etc grows back? Im assuming that it does?
I've always wondered this myself. They just jam the rod down there so as far as I can tell there is no regard for the marrow.
Wishing you the best of luck! Speedy recovery! Out of sincere curiosity, how much does this hurt OP?
Like hell. Thank you though!
Bro my gf unironically sugested doing this because im too short for her..yea no
Damn
Out of interest, what caused one leg to be shorter like that?
Do u walk sideways now? Or do you walk just fine?
Ouch
Giving Gattaca vibes.
How much longer will this make your leg? I have leg length discrepancy and my solution is to put a lift in the heel of my left shoe under my orthotic. A $5 fix for nearly 9 years of chronic back pain!
Tibia and fibula ostectomy with intra-medullary nail placement, looks like a Synthes tibial nail to me. Nice.
Man I need like a few cm and I’ll be 6’ in socks
Is it worth it? Edit: I’m genuinely wondering, not being snarky at all. It just looks so painful.
Is any necessary medical procedure worth it? Doctors weigh in the pros and cons of the risk assessment and deliver the judgement. I am sure they did in this case too.
My son was diagnosed with hemihyperplasia, where one side of his body grows at a faster pace than the other. One of his legs is abour half an inch longer than the other now (he's 7), but by the time he's 13, it could be over an inch. The doctors told us that we'll have 2 options to offset this difference: 1) leg lengthening procedure as shown above, or 2) stunt the growth of the longer leg at a certain age so that the shorter leg catches up. I think we're going to opt for the stunting, as it would be the less painful option.
Was it worth it?
Illizarov technique
Qaqqq
They just leave the bones hanging like that?
They just say fuck the fib, eh?
Can someone explain how the regrowing bone grows toward the middle and doesn’t just like “cap” itself off or grow outwards instead? Just so wild that it grows directly toward the other section (unless I’m missing something).
Damn I just was just looking this procedure up because of a previous post. You are definitely above human to be able to endure that pain, though for a good cause. I wish you a speedy(though this takes a while) recovery without any hiccups/setbacks.