LIMB LENGTHENING AND RECONSTRUCTION | YCLLR WELCOME MESSAGE
DEAR FRIEND,
Welcome to Yerevan Center of Limb Lengthening & Reconstruction.
If you are unhappy with the shape or proportion of your legs, if your height causes you psychological discomfort, or if some other related condition makes you feel incomplete as a person, perhaps the limb lengthening surgery services may provide a solution. The decision to alter your legs for esthetic reasons (correction of legs or limb lengthening) is a serious one. Surgical techniques, duration of the procedure and rehabilitation, and medical and accommodation costs, as well as the setting of realistic goals, must be taken into consideration. We urge you to become well informed about the possibilities and details of esthetic surgery of legs as you make your decision.
In the 20th century, Gavril Ilizarov invented a method of distraction osteogenesis and proved scientifically that tissues can grow under tension.
Today Gavril Ilizarov’s limb lengthening method is known worldwide, and is used to solve many orthopedic problems. Growing taller is similar to the Ilizarov reconstructive method, but there are certain technical and psychological differences (see our approach). These are discussed on this site.
Various medical centers in several countries perform stature lengthening. They offer different techniques and services, from the classical Ilizarov method to the use of high-tech intramedullary telescopic rods that can grow automatically.
We have treated patients from various countries, and our rate of success is very high. Our reputation is worldwide known, and is very important to us. Our website will give you many answers to the questions you need to ask as you make a decision about limb lengthening or/and correction. If you need more information than you find here, you are welcome to ask us any time. We will help you make the right decision.|
Sincerely,
Arshak E. Mirzoyan, MD
Top 10 questions about limb lengthening surgery that the patients usually ask us before surgery. The answers have been provided by Professor, Dr. Arshak Mirzoyan, the Head of Yerevan Center of Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction.
Ilizarov Method | Limb Lengthening
Today there are hundreds of patented external or internal devices,
but there is only one device and method of the same name: Ilizarov’s apparatus and technique.
In 1951 Gavril Ilizarov took out a patent for his external fixation apparatus. By its mechanical features it differed radically from any available alternatives: the crossing Kirschner wires passed through the bone and were attached under strain to circular external rings, spaced apart with threaded rods. The apparatus was initially intended for arthrodesis of knee and immobilizing of bone fractures. There is anecdotal evidence that a patient had misconstrued the direction of torque on the nuts and, rather than tightening (approximation of fragments), eased the screws (distancing fragments). Subsequent X-rays baffled the doctors, whereas Ilizarov, upon seeing the shadow between fragments, exclaimed: ‘Here’s how we could treat them!’
As a man blessed with a healing stroke, selflessly devoted to his calling, an experimentalist challenging establishment, Ilizarov coordinated and focused the work of a great team of clinicians and researchers. Once invented, the apparatus evolved from a simple compression device into what it is today: a set of complementary modules resolving, on clinical needs base, almost any problem in traumatic surgery and orthopaedics. Ilizarov’s vast clinical and experimental background led to his brilliant discovery, ‘the stimulating effect of tension stress on tissue geneses. This was in fact a breakthrough reexamination of the role and functional capacity of bone tissue, which turned to be far more viable and malleable than previously believed. It was proved beyond doubt that bones, muscles, nerves and vessels may grow under certain conditions, and do so by every measure pretty close to physiological growth.
Hundreds of external fixation devices have since been patented all over the world, but distraction osteogenesis, Ilizarov’s method, is the only one universally recognized. Hence it is no wonder that the Italians, among the first to discover its potential to shape and stretch almost every bone, nicknamed Ilizarov ‘the Michelangelo of orthopaedics.’
Growing taller is indicated for those whose height or shape of legs is causing significant psychological suffering, and creating difficulty in personal or professional life.