Who CANNOT Undergo Limb Lengthening

In our blog, we have discussed limb lengthening surgery almost in every aspect. We have provided info to our dear readers about limb lengthening surgery methods, prices, recovery phase, complications, and so on.

However, there is still one question bothering certain groups of people who are considering limb lengthening surgery: who cannot undergo limb lengthening? Or, in other words, “am I eligible for limb lengthening surgery or not?”

1. Patients whose growth plates are not closed yet:

   Limb lengthening surgery can be performed only on patients whose epiphysial plates are already closed, and there is no more possibility to grow taller anymore. It should not be performed for cosmetic (height gain) purposes on children, teenagers, and young adults who still continue growing or there is a potential to grow taller.

2. Patients aged 50 and above:

   As age progresses, our bone mineral quality deteriorates. Bones become more brittle and prone to fractures, and more than that, they actually lose their ability to regenerate new bone tissue. It is always better to undergo limb lengthening at an earlier age. It can still be possible to undergo leg lengthening if you are in your 40s, as long as you provide us a bone mineral density test result and the figures look good. Although theoretically, patients aged 50 and above may undergo limb lengthening, the risk factor is too big for them, and for our patients’ own safety and health, we sadly refuse these patients to offer leg-lengthening services.

3. Cigarette smokers:

   Nicotine, which is found in the cigarette smoke, is one of the biggest enemies of bone regeneration and consolidation process. It slows down the recovery speed by 4-5 times at least. Unfortunately we cannot accept cigarette smoker patients to undergo this surgery, as long as they don’t give up smoking several weeks prior to surgery.

4. Patients with ongoing and serious chronic diseases:

   Patients with blood diseases, cirrhosis,ostheoporosis, severe diabetes, heart problems cannot undergo leg lengthening.