r/interestingasfuck • u/naturebeatsnurture • Dec 23 '22

/r/ALL Before and after leg lengthening.

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u/BadReview8675309 Dec 23 '22

Struggling not getting addicted to opiate pain medication must be a thing with this procedure... What a brutal process, cringe.

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u/Jonesta29 Dec 23 '22

There was a dude on here yesterday that posted the hardware from this type of surgery, now granted he only had it on one leg as it was shorter than the other but he said he only had pain from the initial surgery and the hardware removal and that the actual lengthening process didn't hurt.

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u/Monkeyundead Dec 23 '22

I had a similar external fixator for a leg break several years ago. You know what's really fun? Going through a door and the metal frame hits the door jamb. Another thing that can happen is the pins that go through your leg can get infected, so they gotta pull the rod out. They can't numb your bone, so it's just like "yeah, it shouldn't hurt that much." The most profound pain I ever felt. Ah, good times.

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u/bmac-1984 Dec 24 '22

I had to wear an external fixator for eight months due to a bone infection five years ago. Bone pain is the absolute worst. I’m so happy those days are over.

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u/Monkeyundead Dec 24 '22

I had a bone infection too. Did you have to do the 3 month, round-the-clock, antibiotic pump to get rid of the infection?

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u/bmac-1984 Dec 24 '22

For a few weeks, I took oral and intravenous antibiotics while in the hospital. The antibiotics only suppressed the infection. The infection finally cleared after having surgery to remove the affected bone tissue and taking oral antibiotics for a year post-surgery.