Limb Lengthening Forum

Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Discussions => Topic started by: Jamesy998 on February 16, 2021, 03:24:45 PM

Title: Bone Healing question
Post by: Jamesy998 on February 16, 2021, 03:24:45 PM
Would doctors in the future be able to tell that there was new formed bone in the lengthening area?
In other words, can one get away with just saying they had an incident which is the reason for the rods in the legs?
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: BelowTheMean on February 16, 2021, 03:53:47 PM
So what I've heard is that right after the gap closes the bone will actually be thicker than the rest of your femur. But after time it will smooth out and have the same thickness as the rest of your femur. How long this takes I'm not sure.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Jamesy998 on February 16, 2021, 03:57:21 PM
So what I've heard is that right after the gap closes the bone will actually be thicker than the rest of your femur. But after time it will smooth out and have the same thickness as the rest of your femur. How long this takes I'm not sure.

Perhaps something similar happens if one were to fracture the femur without the lengthening. it would be interesting to get a professional opinion. I am asking around as we speak.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: BelowTheMean on February 16, 2021, 04:04:22 PM
Perhaps something similar happens if one were to fracture the femur without the lengthening. it would be interesting to get a professional opinion. I am asking around as we speak.

That's possible, though the thick bone around the fracture would probably be very short in length, whereas this post-LL bulge is going to run 8 cm down the femur. I plan on getting my nails out eventually and I've been getting half my X-rays locally so my LL is already in the records, so what the bone looks like is not a big deal for me.

If you're trying to get everything completely finished before going home then it might be worth looking into.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: permanentlybanned on February 16, 2021, 06:23:12 PM
Would doctors in the future be able to tell that there was new formed bone in the lengthening area?
In other words, can one get away with just saying they had an incident which is the reason for the rods in the legs?

After 2 years or so, your bone fully remodels. The callus shape returns to a typical unbroken femur bone, straight and all. Cannot tell a thing. Can happen earlier given enough movement and walking. According to Dr. Fragomen

Yes, after fractures, the regenerate is stronger (thicker) than the regular bone. This is temporary and as your bones remodel, it goes back to standard.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Tartar on February 16, 2021, 06:49:21 PM
It's very individual and unpredictable but generally the bone come back to a quite natural shape, but not identical, a bit thicker. With a higher    nail size/bone diameter   ratio it tends to become thicker. If you like there are Dr Lee videos with Xrays years after removal, so you can check what to expect.
But who cares about it, probably you'll never take another lower limbs pic for your whole life until old age and anyway doctors would not think about something like LL.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Jamesy998 on February 16, 2021, 06:57:13 PM
It's very individual and unpredictable but generally the bone come back to a quite natural shape, but not identical, a bit thicker. With a higher    nail size/bone diameter   ratio it tends to become thicker. If you like there are Dr Lee videos with Xrays years after removal, so you can check what to expect.
But who cares about it, probably you'll never take another lower limbs pic for your whole life until old age and anyway doctors would not think about something like LL.

I like to think so too.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Medium Drink Of Water on February 16, 2021, 07:31:50 PM
Would doctors in the future be able to tell that there was new formed bone in the lengthening area?
In other words, can one get away with just saying they had an incident which is the reason for the rods in the legs?

You will still have a visible thin line between the new bone and the old on the x-rays.  I don't think you could fool a knowledgeable doctor by saying it wasn't LL.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: MakeMeTallAF on February 16, 2021, 07:52:14 PM
You shouldn't fool your doctor anyways. Doctors aren't allowed to tell anyone anyways due to HIPAA, so no point hiding it from your physician.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Jamesy998 on February 16, 2021, 08:29:53 PM
You will still have a visible thin line between the new bone and the old on the x-rays.  I don't think you could fool a knowledgeable doctor by saying it wasn't LL.

Thats a shame, I really wanted to try and keep it a secret but guess it will still have to come out sooner or later. I wonder MDOW if these lines would also be visible on a fractured bone? I would assume so.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Jamesy998 on February 16, 2021, 08:30:24 PM
You shouldn't fool your doctor anyways. Doctors aren't allowed to tell anyone anyways due to HIPAA, so no point hiding it from your physician.

I just wanted to keep it to myself thats all.
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: RealLostSoul on February 16, 2021, 11:24:55 PM
Why would you want to hide it from Doctors? I‘d be proud to tell them that I had invasive bone lengthening surgery
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: permanentlybanned on February 16, 2021, 11:35:39 PM
Honestly most PCPs don't even know limb lengthening is a thing they busying writing scripts for Adderall and collecting their paychecks. Some PCPs still prescribe 800iu vitamin D for deficiency
Title: Re: Bone Healing question
Post by: Jamesy998 on February 17, 2021, 09:42:45 AM
Honestly most PCPs don't even know limb lengthening is a thing they busying writing scripts for Adderall and collecting their paychecks. Some PCPs still prescribe 800iu vitamin D for deficiency

I remember having a clueless GP at one point.