Planning Budget For Leg Lengthening Surgery

In this article, we will try to put some light on topics such as leg lengthening surgery costs, what is covered by the surgery cost, what is paid separately, and how much money to have with you to feel secure and not run out of it, what are the accepted payment methods and so on.

First of all, let’s go through the surgery methods applied, and their costs:

1. LON method – 33.590$
2. PRECICE 2.2 method – 59.240$

Our surgery costs include these services:

– Meeting patients at the airport and transportation to hotel/hospital 

Our teammates keep in contact with the patients by means of WhatsApp or other messaging apps before and during their trip to Istanbul so that we inform them that we are already at the airport when the patient arrives. Our guests are taken with VIP transportation to their hotel, Days Hotel by Wyndham Esenyurt. In a similar manner, we take our patients back to the airport when they finish their procedure and are about to return back home.

– Accommodation at 5-star hotel (2 days)

It is not usually possible to have leg lengthening surgery on the same day you arrive in Istanbul. Most of our limb lengthening patients come from countries far from Turkey arriving late in the night or early in the morning and getting exhausted from a long airplane trip. You are required to go through several medical tests as well in order to be considered eligible for a serious surgery such as limb lengthening, which takes 1 day till the results are announced. Having a good rest in a comfortable hotel is important. For this reason, we reserve a room for you at Days Hotel by Wyndham Esenyurt, so that you are fully recharged for the next day.

– Istanbul tour (historical and touristic places+boat tour+meals in our famous restaurants)

We want you to have beautiful impressions from your Istanbul trip and get motivated before your surgery. It takes away most of the anxiety and gives a chance to our patients to have a good time, explore the beauty and history of Istanbul before the months-long difficult limb lengthening experience.

– Medical examinations before the operation

On the same or the next day of your arrival in Istanbul, we will accompany you to the hospital for x-ray imaging and blood tests. Obviously, these cost money. However, we have included them in the surgery cost so that our patients do not get lost among multiple small and big expenses.

– Medical examinations before the operation

The hospital where you will have lengthening surgery determines the quality of your surgery. That’s why we work with one of the best hospitals in Turkey for you. The hospital’s Quality Management System was created in line with Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation Standards and Ministry of Health Quality Standards in Health.

– An English-speaking caretaker who will be around 7/24 during a hospital stay

This is a service that many of our patients think is unnecessary at first, however, they agree that it is absolutely useful and comforting to have somebody besides you in the first days after leg lengthening surgery. Once the effect of anesthesia goes away, a number of our patients experience pain and extreme discomfort. They may have a hard time getting what they need, and it is usually difficult to communicate with nurses and hospital personnel in such a situation, especially when there is a language barrier. We arrange a caring person who speaks your language, who stays in your room or close to your room if you want for five days during the hospitalization, and believe it or not, some of our patients have become good friends with their caretakers!

– 5 days of staying in the hospital

Staying for the first several days at the hospital after the surgery is enough for our patients. This is usually the critical part, because patients have more pain and limitations, they cannot move around freely and need help. Patients are also under control at the hospital to prevent and intervene in any possible complications such as embolism. During this period, patients are provided blood anticoagulants, their bandages are changed, and they are frequently checked by the medical team. Of course, we got this essential period of hospitalization and necessary medicaments and procedures covered up in surgery cost.

– Walker+Crutches+Wheelchair

On the next day after surgery, the patients are assisted to take a few steps with the help of a walker. Also, at times they are having too much pain or cannot walk, so a wheelchair is needed. On better days, patients need crutches to walk around. All these supporting devices are provided by Wannabetaller at no additional cost.

– FREE consultation with doctors and consultants whenever you need, even after lengthening is finished.

Obviously, as many of you probably know, we provide totally free consultation services with our patient consultants who have experience with dozens and dozens of limb lengthening patients, as well as arrange online and face-to-face consultations with our surgeons. Because you have the right to learn every detail and find answers to every question before making your final decision about surgery. You want us to be accessible after the surgery as well, so there are no consultation fees or limitations of duration feel free to contact us at any time of the day.

–  Internal Device removal costs 4,000 $ and is NOT included in the surgery cost.

External fixators and internal nails used for limb lengthening are removed after a certain period. The removal is performed by minor surgery, and patients need to stay at the hospital at least for a night. 4,000 $ is the cost of the removal of a pair of internal devices. On the other hand, in the LON method, both types of fixators are removed together, and the price is included in the surgery fee.

Other things covered by total surgery cost:

• All hospital charges relating to the operating room and recovery room.
• Surgeon fees.
• Anesthesiologist fees.
• Surgery assistant fees.
• Hospital fees (Internal medicine doctors will be available during the entire hospitalization period).
• External fixators and other materials fees.

Many of you are concerned about returning back to your country as early as possible after the surgery. While another group of our patients would prefer to stay in Istanbul for an extended period such as several weeks or months, a group of them may choose to stay for a short period of time, which is not advisable for the doctor.

If you feel good enough and the doctor approves, then 10 days after the surgery you can be allowed to return back home. In this scenario, you will need to get physiotherapy service, have your X-rays taken regularly every couple of weeks, and provide all other medications and equipment on your own. In some countries, for example, the United States and Canada, it is a long and complicated process to get access to medical services such as X-ray imaging. You may even not be able to get a copy of your X-ray image to send to your doctor, or you may have difficulties with getting a physiotherapist to visit you at your place.

To eradicate all of these possible problems and obstacles, we highly recommend our patients stay in Istanbul for the period of bone lengthening, which takes approximately 2-3 months. For our dear patients, we have made service packages that include the most important services needed for a healthy and safe limb lengthening experience.

You can choose one of these two packages:

1. Accommodation Package for Days Hotel by Wyndham Esenyurt (Most Preferred One)

2. If you prefer to choose to stay in a flat or detached house, we can provide these facilities upon your request. You can check out the price range on our website.

The food provided by the hospital is well balanced and quite nutritious. After being released from the hospital, you can either choose to get food service from your hotel or order it from somewhere else. There are services in Turkey such as Yemeksepeti or Getir which allows you to choose a certain meal and order it to your address from almost any restaurant close to you. Individual restaurants also offer delivery services. There are lots of options for people with special preferences: vegetarians, vegans, lactose intolerants, gluten intolerants, and so on. As locals of Istanbul city and Turkey in general, you can always ask us for help and guidance.

Hotels

The majority of the city’s popular hotel brands are located in commercial districts. They are typically located near key establishments such as banks, restaurants, shopping malls, and other amenities. The hotels where you are staying provide a wide range of cuisines and foods. Breakfast is free, and room service is available. You won’t have enough time to make your bed if you’re in a rush to depart for an essential meeting or appointment. When you depart, housekeeping will make sure the room is clean and the bed is made.

Additional info

We would like to emphasize one important thing: Please make your financial arrangements in a way that you have at least 1000-3000 $ extra apart from your surgery cost and the expenses of staying in Turkey. Because no matter how small is the possibility of complications, it is still a serious surgery and the following procedure takes months. It doesn’t all end in the operation room with a successfully executed surgery. There are certain things that might go wrong.

Let’s go through some of them over examples:

1. A complication may happen and it may require additional medicaments, treatments, or corrective surgery. Our team does everything as much as possible in order to minimize these costs for our patients. However, once we had a patient who had undergone Precice 2.2 surgery and he had a fast union of bones. The internal nail was stuck and it was impossible to further lengthen the bone because the bone had already partially healed in the middle of the distraction period. This patient had to undergo a relatively minor surgery where a second osteotomy was performed and the bone was re-cut in order to resume the lengthening process. After negotiating with hospital management, we minimized the surgery cost in the favour of our patient.
2. There has been a case recently where the patient’s return ticket was postponed and the flight was canceled. This patient had a very tight budget and it was difficult for him to afford accommodation for several more days. It was a hard moment for our team as well because we reached out and mediated between them and hotel and hospital staff and could get certain privileges for the patient.

We hope this article was useful for those who are planning their budget for leg lengthening surgery in Turkey. For more in-depth information, please consult with our patient consultant.