Limb Lengthening Forum
Limb Lengthening Surgery => Limb Lengthening Patients Experiences => Topic started by: Hamza on August 12, 2018, 07:31:21 AM
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Hi Guys
I am 34 years old, male, 82 kg, athletic.
My Right leg is shorter than my left leg by 10 mm resulting in imbalance and back pain. this 10 mm is distributed in femur, tibia and ankle after a surgery done since 10 years ago. Since that time i am sending my shoes to an orthopedic shoe lift center to modify all my shoes by cutting the sole and inserting a full lift of the amount needed to be able to walk and doing sports with good balance and without limping and back pain. I decided to get rid of this solution as the lift is noticeable and the shoes becomes very inflexible and not all shoes can be modified.
Because 10 mm is a small discrepancy yet affecting my life, I visited many of the top notch doctors in this field and i decided to correct this discrepancy via surgery with Dr. Rozbruch in HSS.
My surgery is in 2 weeks and i ll be treated with "femur lengthening precise nail 2" and hopefully with STRYDE if it will available before the surgery date.
I need the help of precise nail 2 patients (femur lengthening):
1- the surgery itself is painful ?
2- stiffness, nerves issue, or any other complications for 10 mm lengthening ?
3- back to normal life and sports after full recovery ?
I will also share my experience with u because i know many people has a small discrepancy and they suffer a lot from it and need a permanent solution other than inserting insoles and modifying soles.
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i have around a 10 mm difference too. (my right leg is shorter)
was this procedure covered by insurance?
also you should have no problem returning back to normal and you should have no nerve issues, stiffness, etc for only a 1 cm lengthening
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Thank you, Hamza, for deciding to share your experience. There are many others in your situation who'll benefit from it.
I wish you the best of luck with everything concerning your limb length discrepancy's correction.
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Hopefully this forum will get its first Stryde diary.
Good luck
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MirinHeight,
yes it is covered but not 100%, they covered around 80% in my case.
do u use full lift insole, external shoe modification or u r fine without any correction ? I always use full lift because just adding a heel lift does not give me the balance i want.
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Hamza, can I ask when you did first get the discrepancy precisely measured?
I'm assuming that was necessary for insurance to cover it.
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Hamza, can I ask when you did first get the discrepancy precisely measured?
I'm assuming that was necessary for insurance to cover it.
Since approximately 10 years ago and before doing my cavus foot surgery (high arch foot) in both legs.
They knew that i had 6 mm difference (5 in femur, 1 mm in tibia) and after the surgery i gained 4 more mm's in ankle so i end up having 10 mm difference and i started having noticeable imbalance and back pain when doing sports like football and squat in gym.
Do u have any discrepancy ? or aiming for texture lengthening ?
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Since approximately 10 years ago and before doing my cavus foot surgery (high arch foot) in both legs.
They knew that i had 6 mm difference (5 in femur, 1 mm in tibia) and after the surgery i gained 4 more mm's in ankle so i end up having 10 mm difference and i started having noticeable imbalance and back pain when doing sports like football and squat in gym.
Do u have any discrepancy ? or aiming for texture lengthening ?
I'm looking to get confirmation (or not) on whether I have any significant LLD by an orthopedist. I have obvious scoliosis. I'm measurably taller standing on one leg than on the other. But that could be due to other reasons, too. I will be getting it checked.
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I'm looking to get confirmation (or not) on whether I have any significant LLD by an orthopedist. I have obvious scoliosis. I'm measurably taller standing on one leg than on the other. But that could be due to other reasons, too. I will be getting it checked.
Best of luck !!
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For 1cm in tibias and femurs you need Stryde or any kind of internal LL nail?
Can't your doctor make a gap of 4-5mm in each bone and fix them with an internal nail (not for lengthening) and then have the bone consolidate slowly to bridge the gap?
I don't think that 4-5mm are so much to have a malunion.
Using 2 strydes for 1cm discrepancy (0.5mm in tibias and 0.5mm in femurs) is really too much imo.
After all it would be much easier and cheaper to shorten 1cm your other leg. It won't cause you amy problem and in less than a month you'll be completely ok.
I don't know any doctor using 2 internal LL nails just to fix 1cm discrepancy.
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For 1cm in tibias and femurs you need Stryde or any kind of internal LL nail?
Can't your doctor make a gap of 4-5mm in each bone and fix them with an internal nail (not for lengthening) and then have the bone consolidate slowly to bridge the gap?
I don't think that 4-5mm are so much to have a malunion.
Using 2 strydes for 1cm discrepancy (0.5mm in tibias and 0.5mm in femurs) is really too much imo.
After all it would be much easier and cheaper to shorten 1cm your other leg. It won't cause you amy problem and in less than a month you'll be completely ok.
I don't know any doctor using 2 internal LL nails just to fix 1cm discrepancy.
Body Builder, Just a small clarification:
1- Dr. Rozbruch will do me femur lengthening only of 10 mm and he will not touch the tibia and he will try to use STRYDE in order to be able to walk earlier without crutches. One of the reasons of not touching the tibia is that it is a small discrepancy as u have just said and it can be all corrected from femur which is much easier and faster to recover.
2- 10 mm in one shot might give some complications so he prefers to go slowly even though the case is much easier
3- shortening the longer leg was not an option
Can u tell me a bit about ur medical case ?
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Body Builder, Just a small clarification:
1- Dr. Rozbruch will do me femur lengthening only of 10 mm and he will not touch the tibia and he will try to use STRYDE in order to be able to walk earlier without crutches. One of the reasons of not touching the tibia is that it is a small discrepancy as u have just said and it can be all corrected from femur which is much easier and faster to recover.
2- 10 mm in one shot might give some complications so he prefers to go slowly even though the case is much easier
3- shortening the longer leg was not an option
Can u tell me a bit about ur medical case ?
I just did LL.
5 years after I did a right tibia malunion correction which lead to about 3-4mm gap on one side of the tibia (to make the bone straight) and I had a plate inside to keep it stable. In about 3 weeks I was fully wight bearing and in a few months ( 3-4) the bone was fully consolidated.
Doing 1cm on femur and fixing the discrepancy by making one femur longer than the other I don't know if it is completely right. But Rozbruch is a respectable doctor so I think he knows what he is doing.
If I was you I'd definitely shorten the longer leg or shorten just 0.5mm the tibia and have only a 0.5mm discrepancy which is considered normal and cause no problems.
Having an internal nail wouldn't be my choice for a so minor discrepancy. But your doctor knows better than me.
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I just did LL.
What? Did you just do a second LL? Did you make a diary for it?
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I just did LL.
5 years after I did a right tibia malunion correction which lead to about 3-4mm gap on one side of the tibia (to make the bone straight) and I had a plate inside to keep it stable. In about 3 weeks I was fully wight bearing and in a few months ( 3-4) the bone was fully consolidated.
Doing 1cm on femur and fixing the discrepancy by making one femur longer than the other I don't know if it is completely right. But Rozbruch is a respectable doctor so I think he knows what he is doing.
If I was you I'd definitely shorten the longer leg or shorten just 0.5mm the tibia and have only a 0.5mm discrepancy which is considered normal and cause no problems.
Having an internal nail wouldn't be my choice for a so minor discrepancy. But your doctor knows better than me.
I asked the DR. about knee alignment after lengthening the right femur by 10 mm while i have 5 mm in femur and 5 mm in tibia and he said it will not be an issue as the discrepancy is small and cutting 2 bones for just 10 mm is not an option.
I just want to be sure that i got ur idea "Body Builder", did u mean that correcting just 5 mm from femur or tibia and leave the other 5 mm without correction would be better than correcting the whole 10 mm from femur side ?
Note that i have a very mild CMT1 (Charcot Marie Tooth Disease) which results me in a mild muscular dystrophy (weakness in legs muscles) that specially affected my tibial muscles (shorter leg tibial muscle is weaker) and this is one of the main reasons that just 10 mm of discrepancy is resulting me in imbalance and back pain
When I modify my right side shoe by cutting the out-sole by AMERICAN HEELERS orthopedic center and inserting as little as 7 mm full out-sole i can feel like 80% more balance with no back pain and i can play all sports.
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What? Did you just do a second LL? Did you make a diary for it?
No, I meant that I only did LL.
Forgive my language faults, english is not my native language.
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I asked the DR. about knee alignment after lengthening the right femur by 10 mm while i have 5 mm in femur and 5 mm in tibia and he said it will not be an issue as the discrepancy is small and cutting 2 bones for just 10 mm is not an option.
I just want to be sure that i got ur idea "Body Builder", did u mean that correcting just 5 mm from femur or tibia and leave the other 5 mm without correction would be better than correcting the whole 10 mm from femur side ?
Note that i have a very mild CMT1 (Charcot Marie Tooth Disease) which results me in a mild muscular dystrophy (weakness in legs muscles) that specially affected my tibial muscles (shorter leg tibial muscle is weaker) and this is one of the main reasons that just 10 mm of discrepancy is resulting me in imbalance and back pain
When I modify my right side shoe by cutting the out-sole by AMERICAN HEELERS orthopedic center and inserting as little as 7 mm full out-sole i can feel like 80% more balance with no back pain and i can play all sports.
Yes, I think that doing 0.5-0.6mm femur LL will be better than having equal length of legs but with 1cm added to your femur.
I would equal my femurs (or tibias) and would leave about 0.5cm shorter the other segment.
I think that it will be better. But I am not 100% sure. But even what Rozbruch says will be better than now, thats for sure.
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Yes, I think that doing 0.5-0.6mm femur LL will be better than having equal length of legs but with 1cm added to your femur.
I would equal my femurs (or tibias) and would leave about 0.5cm shorter the other segment.
I think that it will be better. But I am not 100% sure. But even what Rozbruch says will be better than now, thats for sure.
According to the DR. Using Precise nail 2 instead of lengthening in one shot is just because it is much more accurate specially that i have a small discrepancy.
The Dr. prefer to correct it all from femur and said that knee difference is not an issue for such a small amount, but at the same time he asked me to try insoles starting from 7 to 10 mm (I have been trying insoles and out soles since more than 10 years :)) and decide which level is better for me. I will go with the least level that my body can adapt to and it is 7 mm and this is close to ur point of view.
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Dr. Rozbruch said it is a bit early to use STRYDE as it shows minor problems and the company is still working on. I will be doing the Precise nail 2 (6-8 weeks on crutches).
My surgery is next week.
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According to the DR. Using Precise nail 2 instead of lengthening in one shot is just because it is much more accurate specially that i have a small discrepancy.
The Dr. prefer to correct it all from femur and said that knee difference is not an issue for such a small amount, but at the same time he asked me to try insoles starting from 7 to 10 mm (I have been trying insoles and out soles since more than 10 years :)) and decide which level is better for me. I will go with the least level that my body can adapt to and it is 7 mm and this is close to ur point of view.
Good choice.
Also, precise 2 for such a small lengthening is no big deal. You'll wal nsoon enough, maybe in about a month.
Keep us informed.
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Good choice.
Also, precise 2 for such a small lengthening is no big deal. You'll wal nsoon enough, maybe in about a month.
Keep us informed.
Sure I will
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Hello,
My surgery was done yesterday. The pain was only after surgery before giving me pain killer. First night was great with no pain and with CPM usage 2 hours 3 times a day. Target lengthening is just 7 mm. I am leaving the hospital tomorow.
I will update u after a couple of days
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I am at the hotel, already lengthened 1.5 mm.
I am on oxycodone 5 mg twice a day because without it i feel pain 8/10 when moving. I am walking with crutshes and go to macys 2 hour per day then hotel and stretching.
Incisions are minimal and i m happy with this.
I wish that people that have small discrepancy can benefit from my case.
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In a few days you'll be painless.
Please update your case to know how much that small lld correction helped you.
Keep strong!
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I have done the 7 mm lengthening. Lengthening with ERC is not painful but after 10 mins of each 0.25 mm lengthening u need to stretch because u ll feel pain 7/10. If u take oxycodome there will be no pain.
I already feel that i am like 90% balanced (i left a couple of mm) because i am afraid of overlengthening and i am fine with 7 mm ( tried shoes mofification years before the surgery).
4 weeks and i ll leave crutshes
No pain after finishing lengthening
I dont see many ppl intersted but anyway if anyone has a question i am ready for help
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Please don't take it personally. It's just one of those questions that gets asked in threads like this. It's perfectly understandable if you don't want to share pics, or anything more than what you already shared with us.
However, in the case you don't mind, would you be willing to post any kind of evidence you had this surgery with Dr. Rozbruch? A picture of the ERC, a picture of an X-ray: anything that substantiates the journey posted here.
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your experience would be valuable to other CLLer who may choose Dr. Rozbruch. Please do update how the scars fade in the near future. Best of luck on your recovery.
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Congrats hamza.
I am not sure how a 1cm difference was significant honestly. One of my legs was 1cm shorter than the other on a scan but even though I knew it as a fact I couldn't remember which leg it was.
What were your symptoms that you were recommended surgery?
I am just curious, please dont take in the wrong sense.
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Please don't take it personally. It's just one of those questions that gets asked in threads like this. It's perfectly understandable if you don't want to share pics, or anything more than what you already shared with us.
However, in the case you don't mind, would you be willing to post any kind of evidence you had this surgery with Dr. Rozbruch? A picture of the ERC, a picture of an X-ray: anything that substantiates the journey posted here.
I will surely put a picture of the very small and professional incisions but i prefer to wait untill i can walk. I ll send the dr an xray via DHL at the end of this month and he will tell me if i can start walking without crutshes. Note that i can provide my phone number in a private msg to anyone who needs to ask any question.
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Congrats hamza.
I am not sure how a 1cm difference was significant honestly. One of my legs was 1cm shorter than the other on a scan but even though I knew it as a fact I couldn't remember which leg it was.
What were your symptoms that you were recommended surgery?
I am just curious, please dont take in the wrong sense.
Dont worry,
I already have imbalance because of mild charcot marie tooth disease CMT1 and i did cavus foot surgery on both 10 years ago and it results in 4 mm extra difference and since that time i cant run or walk fast wothout shoe modification. Without modification i feel back pain and imbalance.
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your experience would be valuable to other CLLer who may choose Dr. Rozbruch. Please do update how the scars fade in the near future. Best of luck on your recovery.
Scars are perfect. I think if later on i go to the beach for tan they will disappear.
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Please don't take it personally. It's just one of those questions that gets asked in threads like this. It's perfectly understandable if you don't want to share pics, or anything more than what you already shared with us.
However, in the case you don't mind, would you be willing to post any kind of evidence you had this surgery with Dr. Rozbruch? A picture of the ERC, a picture of an X-ray: anything that substantiates the journey posted here.
How to upload a photo ? i tried and it did not work.
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How to upload a photo ? i tried and it did not work.
You can upload the photo to imgur.com, then share the link here
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MirinHeight,
yes it is covered but not 100%, they covered around 80% in my case.
do u use full lift insole, external shoe modification or u r fine without any correction ? I always use full lift because just adding a heel lift does not give me the balance i want.
hey man can you give me specifics of how much total you paid out of pocket
and which insurance you have
I want to get my valgus deformity corrected by Dr. Rozbruch and want to know around the price range it costs to get operated at HSS with Dr. R for noncosmetic procedures.
Thanks!
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You can upload the photo to imgur.com, then share the link here
Scars Photo after approx. 2 months:
https://imgur.com/a/QkKh9Jl
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hey man can you give me specifics of how much total you paid out of pocket
and which insurance you have
I want to get my valgus deformity corrected by Dr. Rozbruch and want to know around the price range it costs to get operated at HSS with Dr. R for noncosmetic procedures.
Thanks!
Hello,
I do not see it ethical to give information about surgery cost in public but if u want leave me ur phone number in a private message and i will surely call u back and give u all the details u want.
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Hello,
I do not see it ethical to give information about surgery cost in public but if u want leave me ur phone number in a private message and i will surely call u back and give u all the details u want.
will message you.
also, have you been cleared to weight bear yet, and if not do you know the time frame where you will be cleared ?
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will message you.
also, have you been cleared to weight bear yet, and if not do you know the time frame where you will be cleared ?
Check this video for Dr. Rozbruch, It will answer many of ur questions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1fNkCGqND0
You need 2 months to leave the crutches, you have to start the count after the last lengthening day. I will leave the crutches on the 1st of November 2018. For the cost details i will answer your private message.
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I started my third week after consolidation phase, doing physio therapy 3 times per week but still have pain in thigh muscle when trying to walk normally. The doctor said that i need 4 more weeks to be pain free.
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Thank you for the update Hamza. Hope the best for you!
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Hi,
I had the precice surgery (precice 2) to correct a 21mm LLD (short right leg) on November 15th. Surgery has gone well overall but I do have pain around the osteotomy site when moving my leg (getting out of bed, lifting my leg, etc). Do you experience this?
Also, when were you able to to a straight leg raise?
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Hi,
I had the precice surgery (precice 2) to correct a 21mm LLD (short right leg) on November 15th. Surgery has gone well overall but I do have pain around the osteotomy site when moving my leg (getting out of bed, lifting my leg, etc). Do you experience this?
Also, when were you able to to a straight leg raise?
Hello,
I have passed three months post consolidation phase. Yes I am still having same pain and the DR said that this will last for few weeks (his answer was 2 days ago). This is the first week that i become able to do a straight leg raise.
Have u done femur lengthening or tibia ? 21 mm is in femur, tibia or both ?
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I did my right femur, ~21mm. Started consolidation phase on 12/18 - should be 4-5 weeks until I'm weight bearing again.
My pain has gone down overall. I can get out of bed. Currently working on flexibility and quad strength.
What stretches work for you for your IT band?
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Hello,
I have passed three months post consolidation phase. Yes I am still having same pain and the DR said that this will last for few weeks (his answer was 2 days ago). This is the first week that i become able to do a straight leg raise.
Have u done femur lengthening or tibia ? 21 mm is in femur, tibia or both ?
when were you cleared to walk and how has your gait been
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when were you cleared to walk and how has your gait been
Cleared to walk approx from 5 weeks, i still have pain in thigh muscle when walking and i am still limping and all my friends can notice that. don t know if limping is from thigh pain and needs a lot of time or it will be a permanent result from the surgery itself. I need to give it more time to judge.
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I did my right femur, ~21mm. Started consolidation phase on 12/18 - should be 4-5 weeks until I'm weight bearing again.
My pain has gone down overall. I can get out of bed. Currently working on flexibility and quad strength.
What stretches work for you for your IT band?
some of the IT band stretches that I found on youtube
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Its been like 4 months in the consolidation phase and the bone is not fully healed yet. Dr said that I have a delay in bone healing. anyone experienced that ?
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Hamza, did Dr. Rozbruch recommend internal fixators over externals for correcting the LLD?
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Hamza, did Dr. Rozbruch recommend internal fixators over externals for correcting the LLD?
Yes, just had small LLD and external is not comfortable for the patient and has more possibility of infections.
I will reach 7 months in consolidation phase, bone is almost healed but still have pain in thigh and weakness in knee.
I corrected the 9 mm from femur (while i have it in tibia) because Dr recommended to go for femur lengthening because its easier. It was much better and more comfortable to lengthen the tibia instead because i feel one of my knee is shorter and its is not very comfortable while walking long steps. I really wish he recommended to go from tibia lengthening but that's what happened.
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Yes, I think that doing 0.5-0.6mm femur LL will be better than having equal length of legs but with 1cm added to your femur.
I would equal my femurs (or tibias) and would leave about 0.5cm shorter the other segment.
I think that it will be better. But I am not 100% sure. But even what Rozbruch says will be better than now, thats for sure.
U were right, after correcting it all from femur i didnt get the expected result as when i was putting 0.5 mm insole my walk was much better and more comfortable. Now i feel my right knee is shorter than my left knew as i lengthened the 10 mm from femur. Dr said wait until ur muscles are strengthened and u ll not feel what u r feeling now. any idea if this problem persist what shall i do ? the precice nail 2 is still in my femur so is it easy to shorten 5 mm ? please advise
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You have one of the best doctors in the world. I would say to listen to him.
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You have one of the best doctors in the world. I would say to listen to him.
I know. I will not decide anything until i reach 1 year then i can assess the results and weather it was really better to go from tibia instead of femur
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I would like to share the details that i have passed through after 10 months post surgery.
I am an international patient. I have a small LLD. I came to Dr Rozbruch & i did an xray & it showed 9 mm difference as follow (1 in femur, 2 in tibia, 6 in ankle resulted from an old surgery). I wanted to get rid of putting insole.
Dr recommended to do the surgery from femur as it is easier & it was done (Precice Nail 2) in August 2018 at HSS. I asked to correct 7 mm only because i was putting 7 mm insole & i was able to do sports perfectly with it.
After 3 months Dr allowed me to leave crutches & start walking. after that i started feeling the nail is going down & i started putting 2 mm and gradually reached 7 mm insole again so did not get any correction.
I came to Dr Rozbruch for re-evaluation last week after 10 months post surgery. A new xray was done for me by the Dr & the measurements was totally different than the measurements done by him before surgery. New xray showed 10 mm of LLD as follow (9mm in femur! & this was 1mm before femur lengthening!!, 1 mm in tibia, & ankle was not measured so surely there is something also resulted from old surgery in ankle).
Note that my bone is not fully healed due to nail instability according to many Dr s i have visited in my country & this is logical as nail is dropping month after month & u can see that in the nail space for measurements is 90% less comparing to the xray done directly after the surgery.
Is it correct & acceptable for the patient to come with 9 mm difference between legs and end up with 10 mm difference after the correction surgery !?
I said OK after this illogical measurements & asked about solution !
The solution was to take out the nail & put solid nail and cut again the femur and lengthen 10 mm & pay another full 85 000$ for correction as Dr Rozbruch is not responsible of the nail failure nor for the huge difference in the xray measurements before and after the surgery.
Is that a professional work ? is that ethical ?
I decided to go for surgery with Dr Rozbruch as i saw that he has good reviews & I believed he is a top notch Dr in this field. This was the worst experience with a Dr in my life as i spent 85 000$ for my safety & professionalism.
I started with 9 mm difference and ending with 10 !! & 1 mm was picked up in femur before surgery & 9 mm is picked up in femur after the surgery add to that that i have to pay another 85 000$ for correction and Dr is not responsible for anything !!
All what i can do is to write what exactly happened with me & i have the whole documents of what I am saying.
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I would like to share the details that i have passed through after 10 months post surgery.
I am an international patient. I have a small LLD. I came to Dr Rozbruch & i did an xray & it showed 9 mm difference as follow (1 in femur, 2 in tibia, 6 in ankle resulted from an old surgery). I wanted to get rid of putting insole.
Dr recommended to do the surgery from femur as it is easier & it was done (Precice Nail 2) in August 2018 at HSS. I asked to correct 7 mm only because i was putting 7 mm insole & i was able to do sports perfectly with it.
After 3 months Dr allowed me to leave crutches & start walking. after that i started feeling the nail is going down & i started putting 2 mm and gradually reached 7 mm insole again so did not get any correction.
I came to Dr Rozbruch for re-evaluation last week after 10 months post surgery. A new xray was done for me by the Dr & the measurements was totally different than the measurements done by him before surgery. New xray showed 10 mm of LLD as follow (9mm in femur! & this was 1mm before femur lengthening!!, 1 mm in tibia, & ankle was not measured so surely there is something also resulted from old surgery in ankle).
Note that my bone is not fully healed due to nail instability according to many Dr s i have visited in my country & this is logical as nail is dropping month after month & u can see that in the nail space for measurements is 90% less comparing to the xray done directly after the surgery.
Is it correct & acceptable for the patient to come with 9 mm difference between legs and end up with 10 mm difference after the correction surgery !?
I said OK after this illogical measurements & asked about solution !
The solution was to take out the nail & put solid nail and cut again the femur and lengthen 10 mm & pay another full 85 000$ for correction as Dr Rozbruch is not responsible of the nail failure nor for the huge difference in the xray measurements before and after the surgery.
Is that a professional work ? is that ethical ?
I decided to go for surgery with Dr Rozbruch as i saw that he has good reviews & I believed he is a top notch Dr in this field. This was the worst experience with a Dr in my life as i spent 85 000$ for my safety & professionalism.
I started with 9 mm difference and ending with 10 !! & 1 mm was picked up in femur before surgery & 9 mm is picked up in femur after the surgery add to that that i have to pay another 85 000$ for correction and Dr is not responsible for anything !!
All what i can do is to write what exactly happened with me & i have the whole documents of what I am saying.
Hi .. Hamza, I'm sorry to hear ... that you have encountered problems.... Please can you clarify if you had a defective nail ...?
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Jesus Christ. Why would limb lengthening be the solution for such a small discrepancy? Why not just continue wearing insoles? Stretches for your backpain? Whoever referred you to this doctor is a crook, and the doctor is a crook too.
The amount of unnessecary surgery being performed in the West is gross. Good luck with your issues. I'd think about legal action. This is basically insurance fraud. In what world is leg lengthening needed for less than 1cm? Far out
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If the nail was defective...? Then the nail manufacturer should be responsible for some of the costs
This is totally unacceptable... for a private patient to pay additional costs ... when the manufacturer failed on there product
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Jesus Christ. Why would limb lengthening be the solution for such a small discrepancy? Why not wear an insole or something? Stretches for your backpain? Whoever referred you to this doctor is a crook, and the doctor is a crook too.
The amount of unnessecary surgery being performed in the West is gross. Good luck with your issues.
Ummmm.. The doctor is not a crook... complications happen... it looks like the manufacturer nail malfunctioned
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85k and months of recovery to "fix" a less than 1cm discrepancy. How many non LL doctors out of 100 would reccomend this approach?
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85k and months of recovery to "fix" a less than 1cm discrepancy. How many non LL doctors out of 100 would reccomend this approach?
..... leg lengthening is a very expensive business... there are no guarantees is this World ... most doctors... have disclaimers ... so you know in black and white ... before you agree with the any surgery.. procedures ..
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Yes it's very strange that LL was advised for just 1cm discrepancy. And I didn't understand what went wrong after lengthening. Did you walk on that leg and it got compressed back?
Also if you were an international patient how could you claim insurance?
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It looks like a faulty nail ...
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If the nail was defective...? Then the nail manufacturer should be responsible for some of the costs
This is totally unacceptable... for a private patient to pay additional costs ... when the manufacturer failed on there product
I have a mild Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT1A) which gives me imbalance that's why i am very sensitive and a small LLD make imbalance for me. Maybe a patient with no CMT will not notice a 9 mm difference (note: According to a Dr Bertz that i visited in Germany lately he picked up 14 mm difference and not just 9 as Dr Rozbruch picked up before surgery. i ll explain that below).
I am walking now 90% normally but with 8 mm insole which stress the toes a lot in shoes and cannot be inserted in formal shoes. without inserting an insole i have weak balance and a small limp can easily noticed and for sure i can not run comfortably at all and if i do i ll got injured. I still cant run at the moment anyway.
Bone is not fully healed after 10 months because nail is dropping down and not stable.
I visited Dr. Betz after what happened with me and he made an xray and said u have 14 mm difference and not just 9 and it is as follow: 9 mm in femur and 2 mm in tibia and 3 mm due to the surgery that i have done in 2005 in ankle.
He said using an extremely expensive nail for this small amount is not a good choice at all. Solid nail like trauma nail was much better for making the femurs equal and lengthen just 9 mm in the operation room and u can full weight bear after the surgery and u ll not feel the rest of difference which is 5 mm as it will be a very small difference. He noted that keep putting insole is easier for me for sure unless i have a big back pain when running and want to get rid of the insole.
Now according to Dr Betz, the solution after non union or better to say after very long time of healing (because still healing in positive way) is to take out the defected nail and insert a solid trauma nail and cut the bone again and lengthen 9 mm in one shot in femur in the operation room and walking full weight bearing from day 1 after the surgery. He said ur bone will heal fast with solid nail and the problem is in the inserted nail and not in my callus formation. a lot of callus formation is there but most of them r still outside the gap due to nail instability or other issues with it.
I asked Dr Rozbruch after he told me come for re evaluation about a discount for correction or offering me a free nail because it is obvious from his xray after 10 months that something went wrong and the nail dropped and his measurments was not correct as he picked up 1 mm in femur before surgery and 9 mm after correction !! but he said u r an international patient and we can not do anything for u and u have to pay another 85000$ to correct with solid nail or stryde nail. Imagine how did I left his office after this irresponsibility.
add to that i want to mention another strange payment. i always pay 450$ for the xray and in the last visit they took from me 1200$ for the exactly same xray !! I paid directly and after that i asked the Dr why the amount is so high ? he started saying i can not control everything and u better ask HSS and he got mad!
I followed the internet reviews and some diaries here to choose Dr Rozbruch and I picked up the wrong choice.
I am planning to do the correction with Dr. Betz as the whole correction is approx for 20 000 euro and Dr Betz is very friendly and he went with me for the xray and he is not snob with his team like Rozbruch.
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If the nail was defective...? Then the nail manufacturer should be responsible for some of the costs
This is totally unacceptable... for a private patient to pay additional costs ... when the manufacturer failed on there product
Now u know what was Dr. Rozbruch answer. is there a way for an international patient for getting nail refund or any refund ?
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Ummmm.. The doctor is not a crook... complications happen... it looks like the manufacturer nail malfunctioned
check the xray that shows the bone healing after 10 months post surgery. there is a small space in the nail tro measure the distraction, this space was more than triple the size.
https://imgur.com/a/XWq1LNg
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I have a mild Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT1A) which gives me imbalance that's why i am very sensitive and a small LLD make imbalance for me. Maybe a patient with no CMT will not notice a 9 mm difference (note: According to a Dr Bertz that i visited in Germany lately he picked up 14 mm difference and not just 9 as Dr Rozbruch picked up before surgery. i ll explain that below).
I am walking now 90% normally but with 8 mm insole which stress the toes a lot in shoes and cannot be inserted in formal shoes. without inserting an insole i have weak balance and a small limp can easily noticed and for sure i can not run comfortably at all and if i do i ll got injured. I still cant run at the moment anyway.
Bone is not fully healed after 10 months because nail is dropping down and not stable.
I visited Dr. Betz after what happened with me and he made an xray and said u have 14 mm difference and not just 9 and it is as follow: 9 mm in femur and 2 mm in tibia and 3 mm due to the surgery that i have done in 2005 in ankle.
He said using an extremely expensive nail for this small amount is not a good choice at all. Solid nail like trauma nail was much better for making the femurs equal and lengthen just 9 mm in the operation room and u can full weight bear after the surgery and u ll not feel the rest of difference which is 5 mm as it will be a very small difference. He noted that keep putting insole is easier for me for sure unless i have a big back pain when running and want to get rid of the insole.
Now according to Dr Betz, the solution after non union or better to say after very long time of healing (because still healing in positive way) is to take out the defected nail and insert a solid trauma nail and cut the bone again and lengthen 9 mm in one shot in femur in the operation room and walking full weight bearing from day 1 after the surgery. He said ur bone will heal fast with solid nail and the problem is in the inserted nail and not in my callus formation. a lot of callus formation is there but most of them r still outside the gap due to nail instability or other issues with it.
I asked Dr Rozbruch after he told me come for re evaluation about a discount for correction or offering me a free nail because it is obvious from his xray after 10 months that something went wrong and the nail dropped and his measurments was not correct as he picked up 1 mm in femur before surgery and 9 mm after correction !! but he said u r an international patient and we can not do anything for u and u have to pay another 85000$ to correct with solid nail or stryde nail. Imagine how did I left his office after this irresponsibility.
add to that i want to mention another strange payment. i always pay 450$ for the xray and in the last visit they took from me 1200$ for the exactly same xray !! I paid directly and after that i asked the Dr why the amount is so high ? he started saying i can not control everything and u better ask HSS and he got mad!
I followed the internet reviews and some diaries here to choose Dr Rozbruch and I picked up the wrong choice.
I am planning to do the correction with Dr. Betz as the whole correction is approx for 20 000 euro and Dr Betz is very friendly and he went with me for the xray and he is not snob with his team like Rozbruch.
Before you completely discredit one of the top three surgeons in the world can you post proof of your journey or surgery or his replies
Not that I don’t trust you ( I don’t nothing personal ) but there’s a lot of fakes posting on this forum to promote or slander doctors.
Not that anyone was gonna go to Rozbruch anyways, there’s no logical reason when Paley who is the best doctor in the world is way cheaper than him
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check the xray that shows the bone healing after 10 months post surgery. there is a small space in the nail tro measure the distraction, this space was more than triple the size.
https://imgur.com/a/XWq1LNg
Also why would you use precise 2? That’s idiotic when stryde is out. With stryde you can walk few days after surgery.
Secondly why would you go to Rozbruch who is the most expensive surgeon in the world for LL? Why wouldn’t you go to paley
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Also why would you use precise 2? That’s idiotic when stryde is out. With stryde you can walk few days after surgery.
Secondly why would you go to Rozbruch who is the most expensive surgeon in the world for LL? Why wouldn’t you go to paley
No worries bro, i just uploaded my xray 10 months post surgery. Just tell what document u want to see and i ll upload it!
I choosed dr robert rozbruch because i saw his videos on youtube and i dont live in the US to know all the doctors there. I heard about paley also but i found more videos for rozbruch and he answered my email quickly and nicely so i continued with him as i believed that rozbruch and paley r top notch doctors in USA.
I asked for using stryde but he said it was still under tests and he prefers to go with precice nail 2 as it is still very trusted.
My surgery was in august 2018 at HSS
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No worries bro, i just uploaded my xray 10 months post surgery. Just tell what document u want to see and i ll upload it!
I choosed dr robert rozbruch because i saw his videos on youtube and i dont live in the US to know all the doctors there. I heard about paley also but i found more videos for rozbruch and he answered my email quickly and nicely so i continued with him as i believed that rozbruch and paley r top notch doctors in USA.
I asked for using stryde but he said it was still under tests and he prefers to go with precice nail 2 as it is still very trusted.
My surgery was in august 2018 at HSS
That sounds weird, but if it is true that sucks .
Also paley is the best doctor in the world for ll and cheaper than Rozbruch
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That sounds weird, but if it is true that sucks .
Also paley is the best doctor in the world for ll and cheaper than Rozbruch
I have a 24 hours flight to arrive to Rozbruch and u know how much expensive is NYC and the surgery itself and i was saying It is ok I am not paying for buying a car i am paying for medical issue that is affecting my daily life and i am a very active person and i like to do all kinds of sports. I was astonished when he said u have to pay again and in full amount for the correction surgery !! another 85000$ is easy for them. Really unethical but i cant do anything as i am an international patient as he said.
he was not shy that i came with (1 mm in femur, 3 mm in tibia, 5 mm in ankle)
and after correction he picked up (9mm in femur)
he was not shy that precice nail 2 that he recommended and refused to use stryde at early phases dropped and malfunctioned.
I didn't ask for full refund or even partial !! I asked for correction with a discounted price, i also suggested no discount but bring a new free nail for me even solid nail which is cheaper and i ll pay for the surgery !! but he said he cant. So what can u do in this situation other than saying this is definitely unethical ?
As if they got the money and that was the most important point for them.
If u want i can also upload the xray measurements done by Dr Betz showed that after surgery i have 14 mm difference between leg length where 9 mm is in femur.
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Hi Hamza
I am really sorry for you in such a tragedy. It is really sad that Dr. Rozbruch responded like this.
By the way, I am just too confused about your situation in other words how exactly you lengthened your legs. Before lengthening, your one leg is 10 mm shorter (femur+tibia+other parts in total) than the other, right? So I assume that you did only one side of Precice in the femur of the shorter leg, right? But then you lengthened that femur like 24 mm so that leg becomes 14 mm longer than the other one. Is that right?
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Hi Hamza
I am really sorry for you in such a tragedy. It is really sad that Dr. Rozbruch responded like this.
By the way, I am just too confused about your situation in other words how exactly you lengthened your legs. Before lengthening, your one leg is 10 mm shorter (femur+tibia+other parts in total) than the other, right? So I assume that you did only one side of Precice in the femur of the shorter leg, right? But then you lengthened that femur like 24 mm so that leg becomes 14 mm longer than the other one. Is that right?
Yes one side, my right leg is shorter and i inserted precice nail 2 in my right femur only.
my right was shorter and after correction my right is still shorter.
before surgery, the xray of Rozbruch showed:
(1 mm in femur, 3 mm in tibia, 5 mm in ankle due to old cavus foot surgery) / a total of 9mm difference. so i asked for 7mm correction because i know the feeling of 7 which is good for me because i have been using 7 mm insole sine more than 10 years.
10 months post surgery and after lengthening the femur by 7 mm exactly using the remote control in the hotel his xray showed (9 mm in femur, 1 mm in tibia, didnt measure the ankle) / a total of 10 mm without the ankle !! he said its 10 mm in total because when standing on 10 mm he can see my pelvis is leveled (u cant ask him a lot he get nervous from questions).
so i came with 9 mm difference in total and i lengthened the femur 7 mm and i left with 10 mm difference !!
Our meeting was for more than 1 hour and he was being evasive.
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Yes one side, my right leg is shorter and i inserted precice nail 2 in my right femur only.
my right was shorter and after correction my right is still shorter.
before surgery, the xray of Rozbruch showed:
(1 mm in femur, 3 mm in tibia, 5 mm in ankle due to old cavus foot surgery) / a total of 9mm difference. so i asked for 7mm correction because i know the feeling of 7 which is good for me because i have been using 7 mm insole sine more than 10 years.
10 months post surgery and after lengthening the femur by 7 mm exactly using the remote control in the hotel his xray showed (9 mm in femur, 1 mm in tibia, didnt measure the ankle) / a total of 10 mm without the ankle !! he said its 10 mm in total because when standing on 10 mm he can see my pelvis is leveled (u cant ask him a lot he get nervous from questions).
so i came with 9 mm difference in total and i lengthened the femur 7 mm and i left with 10 mm difference !!
Our meeting was for more than 1 hour and he was being evasive.
Sorry I am still confused. I guess when you said those numbers, those are gaps or shorter distance in the right leg, as compared to the left leg. But you said you lengthened the femur 7 mm. In that case, how possible the gap is bigger now after lengthening, in other words, your right leg, especially femur, becomes shorter? Even in the case of malfunction of Precice nail, your leg should be almost the same as before the surgery, right?
In addition, I just don't understand how this happened. Normally patients should be checked regularly to make sure the lengthening is going fine, before consolidation. So you should have checked the progress/lengthening before stopping the lengthening.
If this problem is due to the malfunction of the nail, isn't Dr. R or Precice nail company responsible for this?
I really hope you find the solution.
Wish you the best of luck!
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If your case in genuine... you have right and legal obligation to contact the company who provided the nail .... even if your are a overseas patient...
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Sorry I am still confused. I guess when you said those numbers, those are gaps or shorter distance in the right leg, as compared to the left leg. But you said you lengthened the femur 7 mm. In that case, how possible the gap is bigger now after lengthening, in other words, your right leg, especially femur, becomes shorter? Even in the case of malfunction of Precice nail, your leg should be almost the same as before the surgery, right?
In addition, I just don't understand how this happened. Normally patients should be checked regularly to make sure the lengthening is going fine, before consolidation. So you should have checked the progress/lengthening before stopping the lengthening.
If this problem is due to the malfunction of the nail, isn't Dr. R or Precice nail company responsible for this?
I really hope you find the solution.
Wish you the best of luck!
exactly !! I distracted 7 mm so logically If I lost the 7 mm my situation should be back the same as before distraction. It is for Dr Rozbruch to explain to me his measurements before and after I lost the distraction !!
I measured the distraction gap and it was 7 mm directly after the surgery. after couple of months when he allowed me to walk the rectangle area in the nail that shows u the distraction is 90% smaller and i showed him the xray and he told me come to usa re evaluate u because yes maybe the nail dropped and u lost the distraction.
He talked for 1 hour in our meeting and said there will be always difference between measurements each time u do the xray, i told him 1 or 2 or even 3 mm difference is acceptable but how come before the surgery u picked up 1 mm in femur and now after surgery and after lengthening 7 mm and after the nail dropped u r picking up 9 mm difference, did u shortened me or did something wrong ? logically speaking the difference should be now back to 1 mm !!
I stayed 1 hour talking with him and he kept saying "I repeat we have two solution even insertion of solid or stryde nail for correction".
I said OK but who is responsible of this difference in measurements and who is responsible of nail drop as i can physically feel that i am exactly back to my old situation before surgery and I am putting back 7 mm insole as u can see Dr and I showed him the insole in my shoes !!The insole is from GW heel lift and consisting of vinyl layers each layer is 1 mm thickness exactly.
at least they should provide me with another nail or discount, he said we cant and we r not responsible and we cannot talk to nuvasive.
If they respect themselves they should say ohh u paid 85000$ for such a small lengthening so we r sorry and dont worry we ll correct it as simple as that.
I emailed the hospital HSS 4 days ago and until now they did not answer.
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If your case in genuine... you have right and legal obligation to contact the company who provided the nail .... even if your are a overseas patient...
I sent an email 3 days ago to nuvasive and untill now no answer.
I will try to call them also.
this email was sent to info@nuvasive.com 3 days ago:
"
Dear Sir,
I have done a femur lengthening using PRECICE NAIL 2 in august 2018 in New York city at HSS hospital with Dr Robert Rozbruch to correct an LLD of 9 mm.
After 3 months i was allowed to walk by my Dr and the nail start falling until I lost the whole distraction.
I have the xrays that show the measurements before and after the surgery and it shows that the nail dropped.
What do you do in this case ? would you accept to refund me the nail price ?
"
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I sent an email 3 days ago to nuvasive and untill now no answer.
I will try to call them also.
this email was sent to info@nuvasive.com 3 days ago:
"
Dear Sir,
I have done a femur lengthening using PRECICE NAIL 2 in august 2018 in New York city at HSS hospital with Dr Robert Rozbruch to correct an LLD of 9 mm.
After 3 months i was allowed to walk by my Dr and the nail start falling until I lost the whole distraction.
I have the xrays that show the measurements before and after the surgery and it shows that the nail dropped.
What do you do in this case ? would you accept to refund me the nail price ?
"
Most Doctors... test the nails before they implants them in? did your doctor test your nail before he did your surgery?
This is not acceptable.... for you to only ask a refund ... for a faulty nail.. Your Doctor is accountable and he should request a nail refund... on his and your behalf!
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Hamza .... can you provide some proof of what you are saying ... as it's wrong to judge someone without some proof.. I mean proof of documentation evidence....
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I have a 24 hours flight to arrive to Rozbruch and u know how much expensive is NYC and the surgery itself and i was saying It is ok I am not paying for buying a car i am paying for medical issue that is affecting my daily life and i am a very active person and i like to do all kinds of sports. I was astonished when he said u have to pay again and in full amount for the correction surgery !! another 85000$ is easy for them. Really unethical but i cant do anything as i am an international patient as he said.
he was not shy that i came with (1 mm in femur, 3 mm in tibia, 5 mm in ankle)
and after correction he picked up (9mm in femur)
he was not shy that precice nail 2 that he recommended and refused to use stryde at early phases dropped and malfunctioned.
I didn't ask for full refund or even partial !! I asked for correction with a discounted price, i also suggested no discount but bring a new free nail for me even solid nail which is cheaper and i ll pay for the surgery !! but he said he cant. So what can u do in this situation other than saying this is definitely unethical ?
As if they got the money and that was the most important point for them.
If u want i can also upload the xray measurements done by Dr Betz showed that after surgery i have 14 mm difference between leg length where 9 mm is in femur.
I would sue the out of them if I were you even as an international patient
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Hamza .... can you provide some proof of what you are saying ... as it's wrong to judge someone without some proof.. I mean proof of documentation evidence....
For sure, the link below shows the xray image took from my phone at DR s office at HSS in the last visit (date 20/6/2019) exactly 10 months post surgery.
It shows 9 mm difference in femur & 2 mm difference in tibia and ankle is not measured but there is also a couple of mm s in ankle due to old cavus foot surgery.
In this xray i was standing on 6 mm wood insole under my right leg and u can see that i still need 4 mm to have a good leveled pelvis.
https://imgur.com/4idXT7T
If u want i can also upload the receipt of paying 1200$ for this xray. shame on them in all ways.
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I would sue the out of them if I were you even as an international patient
I live in the middle east far away from New York and i don't have anyone there.
Do u think it is easy to start to sue them and come back to New York for follow up ?
Each travel to New York costs at least 3000$ for me if i come just for couple of days. (ticket, hotel, food ...) maybe another xray also this time for more than 1200$ u never know!!
If u can advice me in this issue i ll be thankful.
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I live in the middle east far away from New York and i don't have anyone there.
Do u think it is easy to start to sue them and come back to New York for follow up ?
Each travel to New York costs at least 3000$ for me if i come just for couple of days. (ticket, hotel, food ...) maybe another xray also this time for more than 1200$ u never know!!
If u can advice me in this issue i ll be thankful.
Your lawyer would handle everything for you. You don’t have to come back. Better to find one in nyc but if you need I can recommend you to one if you want to pm me. My business was burglarized and my insurance didn’t want to pay so I sued them and my lawyer she’s really good. Got me more than I lost.
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I live in the middle east far away from New York and i don't have anyone there.
Do u think it is easy to start to sue them and come back to New York for follow up ?
Each travel to New York costs at least 3000$ for me if i come just for couple of days. (ticket, hotel, food ...) maybe another xray also this time for more than 1200$ u never know!!
If u can advice me in this issue i ll be thankful.
If you can upload any emails or receipts that would be cool. If your story is true I feel bad for you, you could’ve been walking since the surgery with stryde and weight bearing shows to have much faster healing time
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If you can upload any emails or receipts that would be cool. If your story is true I feel bad for you, you could’ve been walking since the surgery with stryde and weight bearing shows to have much faster healing time
I visited Dr Betz In Germany and he told me dont worry, solid nail and lengthening ur femur by 9 mm in the operation room and full weight bearing after the surgery and he was very sure of what he was saying. How do u find this solution ?
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If you can upload any emails or receipts that would be cool. If your story is true I feel bad for you, you could’ve been walking since the surgery with stryde and weight bearing shows to have much faster healing time
I have all the documents needed and they r very clear. I also have Dr Betz xray with measurements including the ankle. It says i have a total of 14 mm difference.
OK i will PM u to give me ur lawyer number and i ll ask her how to start.
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I have all the documents needed and they r very clear. I also have Dr Betz xray with measurements including the ankle. It says i have a total of 14 mm difference.
OK i will PM u to give me ur lawyer number and i ll ask her how to start.
There are government agencies that protect consumers regarding products and services..
you need to keep all of your documentation in order... just one thing to clarify... if the doctor or hospital... said that we cannot help you as your from overseas... If you have that in writing then a potential Lawsuit could cost both parties millions in damage .. as you cannot make different rules for other people as there from overseas...
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There are government agencies that protect consumers regarding products and services..
you need to keep all of your documentation in order... just one thing to clarify... if the doctor or hospital... said that we cannot help you as your from overseas... If you have that in writing then a potential Lawsuit could cost both parties millions in damage .. as you cannot make different rules for other people as there from overseas...
I don't have it written, he said it in the clinic last visit for re evaluation. All other documents are with me.
I sent him an email now asking for refund and waiting for his answer.
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I don't have it written, he said it in the clinic last visit for re evaluation. All other documents are with me.
I sent him an email now asking for refund and waiting for his answer.
I advise you to contact your legal team ... and ask them to contact a government agency... regarding this matter as it unfair on you completely!
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If you can upload any emails or receipts that would be cool. If your story is true I feel bad for you, you could’ve been walking since the surgery with stryde and weight bearing shows to have much faster healing time
Below is the link of the xray done at Dr Betz in Germany 24/5/2019 when i felt that i lost the whole distraction and before i come back to re evaluation by Rozbruch to make sure what is happening.
The xray shows 14 mm difference including the difference in ankle.
https://imgur.com/JgfDE5t
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This is very sad news for the LL world. Supposedly one of the best doctors in the game and the manufacturers of the revolutionary Stryde Nail both involved. I mean it may not be their faults or whatever but they some empathy should be shown. Especially as it is not your fault.
I really hope they both fix up and sort things out for you. But I doubt that will happen. I would get ready to sue them if I were you.
I wish you the best of luck
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This is very sad news for the LL world. Supposedly one of the best doctors in the game and the manufacturers of the revolutionary Stryde Nail both involved. I mean it may not be their faults or whatever but they some empathy should be shown. Especially as it is not your fault.
I really hope they both fix up and sort things out for you. But I doubt that will happen. I would get ready to sue them if I were you.
I wish you the best of luck
Yes Exactly! I gave him many options at office like nail refund, surgery discount, any amount refund to go to Europe for correction as I can not afford another 85000$. It is totally unethical to leave ur patient lost In this situation! Specially a patient that paid 85000$ because he believes that he is talking to a top notch Dr and a respectful hospital like HSS. At least a little respect for the patient case in return.
To sue them is an option but it will cost a lot and I am outside USA so it will be hard for me to come when they want me to do.
I emailed Dr Rozbruch 3 days ago and asked him to contact Nuvasive and refund the nail cost at least to be able to do the correction in Europe. Below is his answer:
"
Fri, Jun 28, 5:39 PM (14 hours ago)
to me
I will forward your request to Nuvasive
S. Robert Rozbruch, MD
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 27, 2019, at 2:46 PM
"
I hope his answer is serious.
I will update u with the result.
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I advise you to contact your legal team ... and ask them to contact a government agency... regarding this matter as it unfair on you completely!
I Escalated the case to HSS CEO and i sent him an email today, no idea if he will even reply. Below is the email sent:
Hello Mr. Lou Shapiro,
I am an international patient and I had a surgery at HSS with Dr Robert Rozbruch in August 2018.
I had a small difference of 9 mm between my leg length and he did the correction surgery for me using a product called Precice Nail 2 from Nuvasive company.
Now after 10 months post surgery I came back to the Dr for re evaluation and he did a new xray and said u came with 9 mm difference and now u have 10 mm difference!, this means that the lengthening is failed and I lost the whole distraction.
I paid 85000$ for correcting a small difference between my leg length as i believed that HSS is a famous hospital and Dr Robert Rozbruch is one of the best Dr s in this field.
I asked for free correction and Dr Rozbruch said he is not responsible for any correction and if I want to correct I have to pay another 85000$ !!
I asked for nail refund at least to be able to pay for the correction in Europe as I can not afford to pay another 85000$ at HSS, also he said sorry we cant.
Is that Ethical ? Is it acceptable to treat an international patient in this way ? don't u believe that the doctor should show some empathy toward his patient and try to help him?
The correction surgery in Europe costs approx. 20,000 $. Is it possible to refund this amount to be able to correct it there as i can not afford the cost of correction at HSS ?
Attached the official quotation from HSS that shows the surgery cost. I also paid the Dr fees apart.
I hope that u can help me with this case as i still believe that HSS is a famous and respectful hospital and does not accept any unethical behavior toward its patients.
Best Regards,
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You .... need to be more constructive with your emails ... and put the pressure on..
By stating if we cannot come up with agreement? Then I got no option to take legal action.. regardless you do or not .. that's a different matter!
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My advice is just keep on emailing with the stronger emails... but in the long term .. I wouldn't waste mine on a lawsuit as it will be costly and time consuming....
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My advice is just keep on emailing with the stronger emails... but in the long term .. I wouldn't waste mine on a lawsuit as it will be costly and time consuming....
The CEO Just answered my email:
"
Thank you for your email. I will have our team review and one of them will be back in touch with you. Thank you for emailing me.
Louis A. Shapiro
President and CEO
Hospital for Special Surgery
535 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021
www.hss.edu
"
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That's good news.... try tell them your situation and how much it is has already costed you in monetary terms .. and health and Time and travel... try to make some sort of deal !
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Explain every detail very accurately if possible!
All the best
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I will be waiting an answer from the CEO of HSS or from Dr Rozbruch to proceed.
Attached the letter of Dr Betz that shows the correction needed.
https://imgur.com/FMdmceC
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That's great ... I think you should .. be compensated regarding the nail failure..
So ... how much is Dr Betz... charging for correction of the leg discrepancy?
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I will be waiting an answer from the CEO of HSS or from Dr Rozbruch to proceed.
Attached the letter of Dr Betz that shows the correction needed.
https://imgur.com/FMdmceC
I'm sorry you are going through this, Hamza. Is there any possibility that the bone would heal on its own without further surgery?
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That's great ... I think you should .. be compensated regarding the nail failure..
So ... how much is Dr Betz... charging for correction of the leg discrepancy?
https://imgur.com/FMdmceC
19,000 euro in my case for correction
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I'm sorry you are going through this, Hamza. Is there any possibility that the bone would heal on its own without further surgery?
its been 10 months and there was early callus formation but the nail is not stable so most probably it wont heal but u never know.
+ i have 9 mm in femur now and 5 mm in tibia and ankle so a total of 14 mm. without an insole of at least 7 mm u can easily notice the length difference when i am walking and forget about doing sports without insole and even with insole u ll be restricted.
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Hi, Hamza. Did you do the surgery with Betz? Did you insert solid trauma nail? How are you doing?
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Hi, Hamza. Did you do the surgery with Betz? Did you insert solid trauma nail? How are you doing?
Hello,
I will do the surgery in October with Dr Agustin Betz.
U recommend this doctor ? some patients said he is good other said he is bad.
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I know the same as you. Some people say he is good, some people say he is bad. I don't have experience with him. I don't like to recommend or unrecommend any doctor, because I think it's a very personal and important decision.
I'm just curious about your situation and just hope you will be fine soon.
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Hello,
I will do the surgery in October with Dr Agustin Betz.
U recommend this doctor ? some patients said he is good other said he is bad.
I really think it’s soooo dangerous to lengthen 10mm at once when replacing nail
Why don’t you send emails with your X-rays and info to other CLL doctors such as Kohne, Paley, Donghoon Lee, Hamilton
They’ll give you ideas of what’s good and bad
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I agree with TemakiSushi about look for other doctors opinion. As your case is not cosmetic, maybe see a doctor who does not do cosmetic (like Franz Birkholtz). Maybe, depending where you are located, you can even get this correction for free in the public health system of your country.
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I really think it’s soooo dangerous to lengthen 10mm at once when replacing nail
Why don’t you send emails with your X-rays and info to other CLL doctors such as Kohne, Paley, Donghoon Lee, Hamilton
They’ll give you ideas of what’s good and bad
when i visisted dr rozbruch 1 year after the surgery he suggested the same solution. in fact he gave me 3 options:
1. trauma nail and cutting again and re gain 10 mm and bone grafting if needed.
2. stryde nail and go 1 mm per day as before.
3. accept to modify my shoes like before surgery by 10 mm which is not an option for me.
do u suggest to have a third consultation ?
In my country they will also use a solid nail as we dont have all the magnetic nail in the market. this kind of surgeries is rare in my country and no one of the doctors showed me a good knowledge in my case. rozbruch and betz was more convincing and they r much more experienced.
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I really think it’s soooo dangerous to lengthen 10mm at once when replacing nail
Why don’t you send emails with your X-rays and info to other CLL doctors such as Kohne, Paley, Donghoon Lee, Hamilton
They’ll give you ideas of what’s good and bad
It is not as dangerous or unusual to lengthen 10mm in one go. With good musculature flexibility it is very much possible. Most LL doctors actually do lengthen you 4/5mm at the beginning to ensure there is no pre-mature consolidation and also that nail is working fine. I would go with this option to get it lengthened in one go and get a solid nail inserted.
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https://imgur.com/FMdmceC
19,000 euro in my case for correction
wow, thats a theft. Look into correction in your country in most EU countries this correction should not cost more than 10k euros and in some it will be covered/done for free. This is not such a complicated procedure and Any respectable orthopedic surgeon who deals with deformity/corrections of lower limbs should be able to deal with it adequately.
My suggestion would be to avoid CLL doctors as there prices are astronomical and you dont really need CLL doctor to perform it. please refer to my last post on this.
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when i visisted dr rozbruch 1 year after the surgery he suggested the same solution. in fact he gave me 3 options:
1. trauma nail and cutting again and re gain 10 mm and bone grafting if needed.
2. stryde nail and go 1 mm per day as before.
3. accept to modify my shoes like before surgery by 10 mm which is not an option for me.
do u suggest to have a third consultation ?
In my country they will also use a solid nail as we dont have all the magnetic nail in the market. this kind of surgeries is rare in my country and no one of the doctors showed me a good knowledge in my case. rozbruch and betz was more convincing and they r much more experienced.
At least Dr Kohne is in Munich
I would contact the doctors I listed by email
You don’t loose anything by sending emails, better ask for prices also
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It is not as dangerous or unusual to lengthen 10mm in one go. With good musculature flexibility it is very much possible. Most LL doctors actually do lengthen you 4/5mm at the beginning to ensure there is no pre-mature consolidation and also that nail is working fine. I would go with this option to get it lengthened in one go and get a solid nail inserted.
Could you tell me which CLL doctors lengthen 4or 5 mm when inserting nails?
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Its a protocol many CLL doctors use when performing osteotomy in femur bones for the purpose of performing LL. On top of my head i recall both Guichet and betz do it, as i understand the purpose of this is twin fold to avoid fusion of fracture as you dont start lengthening till few days after the initial surgery and also to test the lengthening nail, i.e. if it is functioning properly.
look it as an early bonus gains ;)
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Its a protocol many CLL doctors use when performing osteotomy in femur bones for the purpose of performing LL. On top of my head i recall both Guichet and betz do it, as i understand the purpose of this is twin fold to avoid fusion of fracture as you dont start lengthening till few days after the initial surgery and also to test the lengthening nail, i.e. if it is functioning properly.
look it as an early bonus gains ;)
Betz and Guichet are ones of the most dangerous CLL doctors
I never heard of any reputable and trustworthy doctors lengthening 4, 5 mm upon inserting nails
Please don’t assume what you are saying is something safe and well practiced
Please do not only select the information which are convenient for you
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Betz and Guichet are ones of the most dangerous CLL doctors
I never heard of any reputable and trustworthy doctors lengthening 4, 5 mm upon inserting nails
Please don’t assume what you are saying is something safe and well practiced
Please do not only select the information which are convenient for you
I understand your apprehension and i am not assuming anything and in general i agree with your opinion that both betz and guichet can be reckless and perhaps also greedy but at the same time it does not discount the fact they are both very good surgeons and have a pretty successful careers between them. Moreover they practise in EU and not in some third world country. The same opinion was also conveyed by Rozbruch, as per the quotes provided by Hamza below
''when i visisted dr rozbruch 1 year after the surgery he suggested the same solution. in fact he gave me 3 options:
1. trauma nail and cutting again and re gain 10 mm and bone grafting if needed.''
would you also classify Rozbruch as dangerous and reckless? At the end you are entitled to have an opinion but lets try to back this up with something more substantial rather than what you might or might not have heard. My opinion was based on, what is being practised and what i have seen in several cases (without any complications) and discussed with a few doctors both CLL and normal deformity/ correction and trauma orthopedic surgeons, and not only on hearsay.
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Since last year I had a feeling that Dr Rozbruch is not confident enough for tibias
So l don’t consider him as a trustworthy LL doctor since then
In the case of Hamza, he had only 1 mm discrepancy with femurs pre op
It’s better off doing tibia from the first place
Betz and Rozbruch, both are the doctors of femurs
Also regarding other doctors who is only doing traumas for health insurance, there are bunch of butchers too, bad doctors aren’t only in cosmetic fields
It’s really difficult to find a good orthopedists generally
If it’s really easy as you say to lengthen so much upon inserting nails, why top notch doctors don’t do it with all cosmetic cases
There have been case of nonunion for lengthening too much at once, even a few mm can trigger damage to the nerves
Look at people who suffer with nerve pain when they lengthen even only 1 mm a day
1 mm is giving so much pressure
I don’t think it’s a good idea especially for Hamza to again jump into the second surgery without researching well
Better to consider or consult other internationally well known doctors for LL
The only CLL doctor for tibia I considered good enough so far is Donghoon Lee
He does lots tibia cases since many East Asians got short bent tibias
Since most don’t speak English, his reputation is kind of hidden on this forum
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@temakisushi, No one is asking anyone to do anything or jump into anything, definitely not me. I expressed an informed opinion based on what i have observed and seen. You are also expressing an opinion based on what you FEEL, but thats OK.
Just to point it out to you as you dont seem grasp this simple fact, no sane doctor will do CLL lengthening in one go so actually i am struggling to understand your point. We are not talking about CLL as now hamza's case has became of LL discrepancy (that too a minor one) so more of a deformity correction and many surgeon's would consider it to be perfectly normal to fracture and than extend it in one go as the lengthening required is not so big (abt 10mm). Afterwards it will be nailed with a solid nail and than bone grafted, if needed. Its quick, has a good record of success and patient will be discharged and walking with in 2-3 days and probably can go back to work after a week or so.
I do believe dong lee to be an excellent surgeon but at the same time i think Rozbruch is one of the best in the world. Also both betz and guichet are exellent surgeons and pioneers in the field of LL, when it comes to their ethics and greed a lot is left to be desired though thats why i wont consider them and it has nothing to do with their technical opinion. If i were you i would actually educate myself rather than try to look down on other people's opinions here and specially not on an esteemed surgeon such as Rozbruch's medical opinion that too ONLY because you FEEL differently.
I think i am going to let this discussion rest here as otherwise we will be just repeating ourself.
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I think it is dangerous way of thinking to say this doctor is a pioneer, so his opinion is good
No it’s not any good, being a pioneer doesn’t make the doctor any trustworthy
There have been cases which are so terrible and sad, which are done by those so called pioneers
I feel quite irresponsible to refer someone to those dangerous doctors without warnings
Especially Betz or Guichet, they are known to have had something to do with Apo who was shilling patients on forum
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@temakisushi, No one is asking anyone to do anything or jump into anything, definitely not me. I expressed an informed opinion based on what i have observed and seen. You are also expressing an opinion based on what you FEEL, but thats OK.
Just to point it out to you as you dont seem grasp this simple fact, no sane doctor will do CLL lengthening in one go so actually i am struggling to understand your point. We are not talking about CLL as now hamza's case has became of LL discrepancy (that too a minor one) so more of a deformity correction and many surgeon's would consider it to be perfectly normal to fracture and than extend it in one go as the lengthening required is not so big (abt 10mm). Afterwards it will be nailed with a solid nail and than bone grafted, if needed. Its quick, has a good record of success and patient will be discharged and walking with in 2-3 days and probably can go back to work after a week or so.
I do believe dong lee to be an excellent surgeon but at the same time i think Rozbruch is one of the best in the world. Also both betz and guichet are exellent surgeons and pioneers in the field of LL, when it comes to their ethics and greed a lot is left to be desired though thats why i wont consider them and it has nothing to do with their technical opinion. If i were you i would actually educate myself rather than try to look down on other people's opinions here and specially not on an esteemed surgeon such as Rozbruch's medical opinion that too ONLY because you FEEL differently.
I think i am going to let this discussion rest here as otherwise we will be just repeating ourself.
I agree more with u and I also highly respect the opinion of TemakiSushi.
TamakiSushi,
After 1 year of the surgery and after I lost the distraction due to Precice Nail 2 malfunction I went for consultation with betz to take a second opinion. Then I went for consultation with rozbruch and one of his options was the same as betz which is acute lengthening of 10 mm with solid nail and walking directly after the surgery and get back to work in 2 weeks. so 2 opinions match.
Also I visisted a doctor in my country and he said we used to do acute lengthenning for up to 2 cm when a patient come from a car accident for example. My local Dr prefer to take out the telescopic nail with an experienced Dr with such a product because it needs some special tools to be removed in a very simple way.
I will take another opinion by sending an email to a new doctor and let u know his reply but I am tired of travelling and doing consultation specialy after I went to USA and Germany the most respectful countries in medecine.
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I think it is dangerous way of thinking to say this doctor is a pioneer, so his opinion is good
No it’s not any good, being a pioneer doesn’t make the doctor any trustworthy
There have been cases which are so terrible and sad, which are done by those so called pioneers
I feel quite irresponsible to refer someone to those dangerous doctors without warnings
Especially Betz or Guichet, they are known to have had something to do with Apo who was shilling patients on forum
Chap let it rest you are sounding like a broken record. I present my opinion based on observation and experience but you keep on going on about how you FEEL. I asked you politely to go and educate yourself rather calling other people irresponsible but it seems you are not able to grasp a simple concept of how medical science works. Please read again my message and also Hamza's message and learn to comprehend what people are writing before selectively picking up one or two sentences and commenting on them to push your agenda.
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@Hamza please take another opinion or two if you feel the need to do so, there is no harm in it but you dont need to travel to do so as this can be done simply via emails. Although i think you are on the right track but only thing i will suggest is that you can do this surgery relatively cheaper with a good orthopedic surgeon in europe who specializes in lower limb deformities rather than going to someone like betz (who i still believe is an excellent surgeon) as i think both him and guchiet are not very ethical surgeons and charge too much as they are used to doing CLL, hence their prices are very high.
IMO it should not cost you more than 10-12K euros to get it done with a respectable surgeon in one of the EU countries.
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WHat did HSS CEO say Hamza?
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@Hamza please take another opinion or two if you feel the need to do so, there is no harm in it but you dont need to travel to do so as this can be done simply via emails. Although i think you are on the right track but only thing i will suggest is that you can do this surgery relatively cheaper with a good orthopedic surgeon in europe who specializes in lower limb deformities rather than going to someone like betz (who i still believe is an excellent surgeon) as i think both him and guchiet are not very ethical surgeons and charge too much as they are used to doing CLL, hence their prices are very high.
IMO it should not cost you more than 10-12K euros to get it done with a respectable surgeon in one of the EU countries.
Infinity,
I emailed Dr Betz yest. and asked about acute lengthening of 1 cm if it does result in nerve damage he said definitely it wont.
I emailed yest. another Dr in Europe and i am waiting his answer (third opinion).
I agree with u that with normal orthopedic surgeon the cost will be less but dont u think that it is safer to go for this small correction with doctors that are specialized and have a lot of experience in limb lengthening ? specially because i already inserted a nail and now i need to exchange it so these Dr s deal with a lot with similar cases ... what do u think ?
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Infinity,
I emailed Dr Betz yest. and asked about acute lengthening of 1 cm if it does result in nerve damage he said definitely it wont.
I emailed yest. another Dr in Europe and i am waiting his answer (third opinion).
I agree with u that with normal orthopedic surgeon the cost will be less but dont u think that it is safer to go for this small correction with doctors that are specialized and have a lot of experience in limb lengthening ? specially because i already inserted a nail and now i need to exchange it so these Dr s deal with a lot with similar cases ... what do u think ?
@Hamza
The danger of nerve damage or problems normally start after 3-4 cm mark and as i understand it 1 cm (even if it was done all togather) does not pose any danger to nerve or ligament damage. At worst it will just makes you uncomfortable for few days.
Please understand that CLL surgeons are not better than deformity/correction surgeons, they just have more experience delaing with bilateral Cosmetic LL cases. In your case its not bilateral lengthening and its definitely not CLL, in my opinion yours is a straight forward case LL discrepancy correction which can and should be corrected with acute lengthening and than nailing allowing you to get on with your life. This can be done by ANY respectable experienced lower limb deformity correction surgeon even in your home country. Here the key is to look for surgeon who is experienced in lower limb correction surgeries.
This is not a medical advice as i am not qualified to do so and the decision is yours as its your money and legs. Do what you feel most comfortable with.
Good Luck.
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@Hamza
The danger of nerve damage or problems normally start after 3-4 cm mark and as i understand it 1 cm (even if it was done all togather) does not pose any danger to nerve or ligament damage. At worst it will just makes you uncomfortable for few days.
Please understand that CLL surgeons are not better than deformity/correction surgeons, they just have more experience delaing with bilateral Cosmetic LL cases. In your case its not bilateral lengthening and its definitely not CLL, in my opinion yours is a straight forward case LL discrepancy correction which can and should be corrected with acute lengthening and than nailing allowing you to get on with your life. This can be done by ANY respectable experienced lower limb deformity correction surgeon even in your home country. Here the key is to look for surgeon who is experienced in lower limb correction surgeries.
This is not a medical advice as i am not qualified to do so and the decision is yours as its your money and legs. Do what you feel most comfortable with.
Good Luck.
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@Hamza
The danger of nerve damage or problems normally start after 3-4 cm mark and as i understand it 1 cm (even if it was done all togather) does not pose any danger to nerve or ligament damage. At worst it will just makes you uncomfortable for few days.
Please understand that CLL surgeons are not better than deformity/correction surgeons, they just have more experience delaing with bilateral Cosmetic LL cases. In your case its not bilateral lengthening and its definitely not CLL, in my opinion yours is a straight forward case LL discrepancy correction which can and should be corrected with acute lengthening and than nailing allowing you to get on with your life. This can be done by ANY respectable experienced lower limb deformity correction surgeon even in your home country. Here the key is to look for surgeon who is experienced in lower limb correction surgeries.
This is not a medical advice as i am not qualified to do so and the decision is yours as its your money and legs. Do what you feel most comfortable with.
Good Luck.
I understand you and many thx.
If choosing another doctor is just for saving money but same have same level of expertise I prefer to keep my surgery appointment with Dr Betz in a couple of weeks as i saw him and talked to him for hours and I felt comfortable when I saw his confidentiality in what he is going to do.
None of the real orthopedic surgeons in Europe will take a decision before he sees me and I ll end up spending money and time, unless u believe that real ortho. surgeons can be more professional for my case.
In my country, the problem is no one of the Dr s used telescopic nail before (not available, only external is used and rarely) and they said we can help u and pull it out but better to pull it out with a Dr that is experienced with it because the head of the nail needs special tools to be easily removed same for the screws.
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I understand you and many thx.
If choosing another doctor is just for saving money but same have same level of expertise I prefer to keep my surgery appointment with Dr Betz in a couple of weeks as i saw him and talked to him for hours and I felt comfortable when I saw his confidentiality in what he is going to do.
None of the real orthopedic surgeons in Europe will take a decision before he sees me and I ll end up spending money and time, unless u believe that real ortho. surgeons can be more professional for my case.
In my country, the problem is no one of the Dr s used telescopic nail before (not available, only external is used and rarely) and they said we can help u and pull it out but better to pull it out with a Dr that is experienced with it because the head of the nail needs special tools to be easily removed same for the screws.
You could do a lot worse than going with betz most CLL doctors started as normal lower limb or orthopedic surgeon and betz is an experienced orthopedics surgeon. IMO he is a little greedy and sometimes takes too many risks but that's probably in CLL case. Your case is pretty straight forward corrections case so I don't see any issues with choosing betz. If you can afford him and money is not an issue than go for it, get it done and move on with your life. You seems like a decent guy so I wish you all the best with surgery!
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You could do a lot worse than going with betz most CLL doctors started as normal lower limb or orthopedic surgeon and betz is an experienced orthopedics surgeon. IMO he is a little greedy and sometimes takes too many risks but that's probably in CLL case. Your case is pretty straight forward corrections case so I don't see any issues with choosing betz. If you can afford him and money is not an issue than go for it, get it done and move on with your life. You seems like a decent guy so I wish you all the best with surgery!
Yes I decided to go with him and I ll let u know the result next month.
Attached an xray done today (13 months post sugery).
https://imgur.com/a/gCWJHGL
I feel that i will not need bone grafting, do u agree with me ?
Do u think when we cut the bone again to gain 1 cm the old fracture will break or it looks solid enough ?
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932753/#!po=2.08333
Not sure how helpful this is, but this is a case similar to yours.
from what I'm gathering, after initial lengthening goals were reached, the nail failed and reversed. Author hinted at weight bearing capabilities of the precise nail being limited as to the reason.
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Yes I decided to go with him and I ll let u know the result next month.
Attached an xray done today (13 months post sugery).
https://imgur.com/a/gCWJHGL
I feel that i will not need bone grafting, do u agree with me ?
Do u think when we cut the bone again to gain 1 cm the old fracture will break or it looks solid enough ?
I think you have good consolidation and probably wont be needing any grafting but i think the best person to decide this will be your surgeon. try to listen to him and not impose your opinion as afterwards he will blame you if something will not be right.
It will be wise to re-brake it at the old osteotomy site but again let the surgeon take care of this. he knows the best.
Once again Good luck!
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5932753/#!po=2.08333
Not sure how helpful this is, but this is a case similar to yours.
from what I'm gathering, after initial lengthening goals were reached, the nail failed and reversed. Author hinted at weight bearing capabilities of the precise nail being limited as to the reason.
Yes when i started walking after 3 months, I was happy with the result.
After that, Dr Allowed me to walk and I started gradually feeling that I need to start adding insoles of 3,5,7... mm s again.
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My correction surgery is on the 10th of October 2019. I will keep you updated.
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Surgery is successful, Thanks GOD !!!
I full weight bear since the 1st day post surgery.
I am leaving the hospital tomorow morning.
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I'm happy for you, Hamza. Solid trauma nail will not shorten the distraction. Please, keep us updated on your consolidation.
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Good news Hamza,
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Thanks GOD that I did the correction with Dr Betz.
Everything was perfect from A to Z, starting from the 5 star hospitality, 2 hours discussion in details at night in the room with Dr Betz the great listener and the great speaker, Blessed hands that saved my leg, down to earth as he came after surgery and helped me to wear my boxer and short I realy felt that he is my father and not my doctor, decent professional high in morals.
I regret that i didnt chose him from the first begining and used solid nail and avoided complications of telescopic nail which in his opinion was not the best choice for my case and i had the chance to walk directly after the surgery.
Dr betz used the same old fracture, cleaned it, lengthened 1 cm, bone graft from illiac crest, put a solid nail of 12 mm diameter because the precice was 12 mm diameter.
All what I care about now is that my bone heals at the end so I am following up with the top notch Dr Betz via email, phone and whatsapp.
I ll provide u with my new xray as soon as i go back to office.
Thanks GOD.
Wish u guys all the best.
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Good to know everything end up fine for you, Hamza. Now you can enjoy your life without discrepancy. This is awesome!
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Xrays uploaded.
I corrected the 9 mm difference in femur so i end up having equal femurs and I still have 5 mm difference (3 in tibia and 2 in ankle).
I am easily puting an insole of 3 mm to feel fully balanced and comfortable.
Straight after acute lengthening of 9 mm:
https://imgur.com/SG2Pdd0
https://imgur.com/XI6zxws
Two months post acute lengthening of 9 mm:
https://imgur.com/uMqJnkN
https://imgur.com/B8iSUG8
After 2 months of the surgery my walk is 70% back to normal (still far away from running).
I am still swaying a little bit but I am not using a cane for balance since 3 weeks ago.
Pain is still in the thigh but less by like 60% .
doing PT 2 times per week ( cant afford more ).
I feel that i need like 6 months post surgery to be able to walk normally & 1 year to be able to run.
Dr Betz said that I can do whatever activity I want with no limits and bone healing is good.
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3 months 10 days post surgery:
My gait is 80% back to normal.
Pain is 90% less when walking.
I can go upstairs/downstairs without support but i need to be cautious due to some weakness in thigh.
I feel that I need 2 more months to be able to start running.
This kind of surgeries needs a lot of responsibility (stretching, strengthening) and patience.
Dr Betz ask for xray in March (5 months post surgery). I ll post it once done.
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Hello,
Now I reached 5 months post removing precice nail 2, inserting solid nail and lengthening approx 1 cm as LLD correction.
Now my femurs are perfectly equal but I still have 5 mm difference between tibias (3 mm in tibia + 2 mm in ankle due to the old surgery).
I feel full balance and comfortable by inserting a 3 mm insole. thanks GOD no more cutting and modifying shoes :).
Last week I started walking for like 8 km and I am also able to run but sure for a short distance like 1 km.
Below is the link of my xray (5 months post surgery):
https://imgur.com/a/zm1EkmZ
Thanks God, Thanks Dr Betz.
I will post my new xray after 7 months.
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congrats hamza, gladly the storm passed and you got yourself to a happy corrected point in your life. I wish you the best and fast healing.
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Xray after 10 month post surgery of removing failed precice nail 2 from right femur, inserting solid nail, acute lengthening of 9 mm for LLD correction.
https://imgur.com/rAHWlha
femurs are now perfectly equal and I feel much better overall when walking and running with no back pain. I am putting 5 mm insole now to make my tibias perfectly equal so knees and hip become perfectly leveled, I feel 100% balanced in running and walking while using this insole.
(originally i had 9 mm difference between femurs and 5 mm difference between tibias, so a total of 14 mm LLD)
Anybody advice me to think of surgically correction of this 5 mm LLD between tibias and get rid of the 5 mm insole ?
Is it possible to walk directly after tibia internal lengthening with solid nail like I did after femur surgery ?
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Hey Hamza great to hear that your initial bad case got fixed! How is life nowadays?
I am interested if the hospital/nuvasive/rozbruch ever gave you any money back or offered anything in compensation?
ps
I never heard of any reputable and trustworthy doctors lengthening 4, 5 mm upon inserting nails
this is wrong. It's normal to have a couple of mm initial gap if you don't start lengthen right away. Paley does a quarter inch incision if I recall correctly (so about 6mm).
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Also interested to hear what became of the refund/complications/lack of treatment?
This is the first time I've heard of a 6mm gap.
The bone does not consolidate unless it is compressed together and this is the first time I have ever heard of this for lengthening
Secondly - the acute gap - I've been told is never done - as it is such a risk as explained above and they gradually lengthen.
But who knows anymore - they all make up their own rules...........
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Thanks GOD i am back to normal, I am playing football and going to gym as before. bone is fully healed but nail is not removed yet due to covid19.
all my respect to the professional Dr Betz, the doctor, the father.
as for HSS they are respectful.
as for dr rozbruch, irresponsible of any complication, he lacks the most important thing in the medical profession, ethics.
as for nuvasive, definitely they do not respect their patients as they didn't even answer my emails and calls, unethical.
What i have now is exactly 7 mm difference between tibia's. Dr Betz can do the surgery for me but his advice is to better use an insole of 5 mm (as 7mm insole stress the toes a lot inside the shoes) and i am fine with 5 mm insole (but hate the fact that i am very dependent on it).
I do sports a lot and i walk barefoot on the beach a lot so i can feel the 7 mm big time when barefoot.
I limp a little bit when barefoot and i try to hide it as much as i can.
that is why i thought about surgically correcting the 7 mm LLD in tibia and get rid of any insole.
acute lengthening is much much easier than magnetic lengthening.
I do not see that anyone advice me to surgically correct the 7 mm LLD in tibia.
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The good news is that 7mm is just 7 days of lengthening. The bad news is that it's insanely expensive and painful. I hope your insurance can cover it man.
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The good news is that 7mm is just 7 days of lengthening. The bad news is that it's insanely expensive and painful. I hope your insurance can cover it man.
if decided, we ll go for acute lengthening, no need to use telescopic nail for just 7 mm.
have u done tibia lengthening before ?
Is it a successful surgery like femur lengthening ?
Femur acute lengthening of 9 mm using solid nail was not very hard and after 1 year i started playing sports normally.
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if decided, we ll go for acute lengthening, no need to use telescopic nail for just 7 mm.
have u done tibia lengthening before ?
Is it a successful surgery like femur lengthening ?
Femur acute lengthening of 9 mm using solid nail was not very hard and after 1 year i started playing sports normally.
who would do the acute lenthening?
your case is the first case for this "acute lengthening"
For bone consolidation the bones must be pushed together and for lengthening slowly separated.
I have never heard any other doctor agree to do this acutely, that is not to say that it cannot be done
but it seems to not be done at all for the risks.
and it is a shame if it were not risky as limb could be equalized easily this way, much less costs, and no need for nails that can't bear weight.
Did you ever contact nuvasive of the new york doctors insurance to see if anything could be done?
Would they have treated you better if you lived in america?
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who would do the acute lenthening?
your case is the first case for this "acute lengthening"
For bone consolidation the bones must be pushed together and for lengthening slowly separated.
I have never heard any other doctor agree to do this acutely, that is not to say that it cannot be done
but it seems to not be done at all for the risks.
and it is a shame if it were not risky as limb could be equalized easily this way, much less costs, and no need for nails that can't bear weight.
Did you ever contact nuvasive of the new york doctors insurance to see if anything could be done?
Would they have treated you better if you lived in america?
acute lengthening can be done for small discrepancy only (<10 mm) otherwise u need a telescopic nail.
I did it for my right femur and as u said its much easier and u can walk on it from day 1.
I called nuvasive and i sent them an email and nobody answered at all.
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Other than betz, did any other doctor offer to do the acute lengthening?
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Other than betz, did any other doctor offer to do the acute lengthening?
Yes many others as I have less than 1 cm difference.
For the 7 mm remaining in tibia, dr betz advised me not to surgically correct it as tibia is not as easy as femur correction.
He recommended to keep using insole for balancing.
I have a special case as i have mild charcot marie tooth disease (neuro muscular disease) and this 7 mm difference in tibia is due to a surgery (ankle fusion) i have done in 2003 to correct the cavus resulted from this disease. I lost the 7 mm after the correction surgery and i started putting insole to be able to walk and run properly.
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solid nail removed in 22/4/2022 (days ago) 2.4 years after nail insertion.
walk is much better without nail
1 day crutches usage only
full recovery seems to take 2 weeks max