Limb Lengthening: Which Technique, Which Nail, and What $25,000 Buys That $60,000 Does Not
Reviewed by Prof. Dr. Olcay Güler
Quick answer
Limb Lengthening: Which Technique, Which Nail, and What $25,000 Buys That $60,000 Does Not
- Prof. Dr. Salih Marangoz — score 17.00 / 67
- Doç. Dr. İlker Sarıkaya — score 16.43 / 67
- Op. Dr. Salih Şentürk — score 16.26 / 67
· Ratings from Google; ranking formula published on /how-we-rank
Ask for a limb lengthening quote in Türkiye and two numbers come back: roughly $25,000, and roughly $60,000. The gap is not hospital luxury or a surgeon's reputation. It is what goes inside your leg.
Three techniques, three different daily lives
Ilizarov, or external fixator alone. The oldest method. The bone is held from outside by rings and wires and distracted by up to a millimetre a day. The cheapest, and the longest time carrying hardware outside the body.
LON — Lengthening Over Nail. A fixator and an intramedullary nail work together. Once the lengthening is done the fixator comes off and the nail carries the consolidation. Time in external hardware drops sharply. This is the technique behind the published $25,000 figure.
A fully internal motorised nail (Precice). No external fixator at all. The nail sits inside the bone and is lengthened magnetically from outside. The most comfortable, and the most expensive: $60,000.
All three use the same biology — cut the bone, separate it slowly, let new bone fill the gap. What changes is what you live with while that happens.
The question is not which technique
This is the reason this page exists.
One member of the internal-nail family received an FDA Class I recall on 9 April 2021 — the regulator's most serious category, used for products where the problem may cause serious injury or death. The manufacturer had begun a voluntary field safety action that February.
The cause was corrosion at the nail's telescoping junction. Of 23 retrieved implants, 20 showed visible corrosion.
Source: Acta Orthopaedica (2021)
Nor were these isolated reports: a nationwide study covering every bone segment treated with the nail in Denmark — 30 segments in 27 patients — found late-onset pain, osteolysis and periosteal reaction.
Source: Acta Orthopaedica (2021)
Now the part that decides what you ask. The recalled products were the stainless steel ones: Precice Stryde, Precice Plate and the Bone Transport systems. The recall notice draws the line explicitly — it "does not impact the original titanium Precice internal lengthening nail systems". The titanium Precice implanted today was never in scope, and remains in use.
Source: International Center for Limb Lengthening, on the NuVasive field safety action
So the question worth taking to a consultation is not which technique. It is which nail, from which manufacturer, in which material — and it is one almost nobody reading a quote thinks to ask, with an answer you can request in writing.
Price, and what to settle before comparing two numbers
| Türkiye | USA | Europe | |
|---|---|---|---|
| LON | $25,000 | — | — |
| Internal nail | $60,000 | $80,000 – $175,000 | $55,000 – $80,000 |
Detailed US figures published elsewhere run to roughly $104,500 for a femur (8cm) and $115,000 for a tibia (5cm). The Türkiye figures are a hospital's own published prices; the others are market ranges gathered across centres.
And the line quotes routinely omit: the nail comes out. Usually 12 to 18 months later, in a second operation. In the US that removal alone is published at $15,000–$25,000. Whether your Turkish quote includes it is the question to settle before putting the two numbers side by side.
Where the gap comes from, and what it does not tell you
The nail is the same nail. One manufacturer makes Precice, and the implant flown to Istanbul is the implant flown to Miami. What differs is everything around it: hospital costs, wages, rent, and the cost of living the practice sits inside. That is why the gap is large and stable rather than a discount someone is offering you.
What it does not tell you is whether a particular surgeon is good. A low price in a low-cost market says nothing about the operator. That is a separate question, and the ranking below is built for it.
What the operation actually costs you
This section belongs here regardless of price.
Limb lengthening runs over months: a distraction phase, then a consolidation phase waiting for the new bone to harden, and intensive physiotherapy throughout. Recognised complications include nerve injury, delayed union or non-union, loss of joint movement and contracture, infection, and implant-related problems.
Lengthening with no medical indication — done for height alone — remains debated within orthopaedics. This page does not settle that debate. It says the debate exists and that you should know it does.
Six questions for the consultation
- Which technique, and why that one for me? Ilizarov, LON and an internal nail are not interchangeable.
- Which nail, which brand, which material? That is what the section above is for. Ask for the answer in writing.
- Is removal included in the price? If not, how much and when.
- How many months in the fixator, how many before full weight-bearing? Ask for a calendar in months, not "a short time".
- Who provides the physiotherapy, how many sessions, is it included? Much of the result hides in this line.
- What happens if there is a complication? Who is responsible, who pays for revision surgery, and who is your contact once you are home.
Surgeons performing limb lengthening in Istanbul
The surgeons below were drawn from those listed under limb lengthening in one of Türkiye's largest doctor directories; each appears in that treatment category there.
Source: Doktorsitesi, Turkish doctor directory
Scores come from the same published formula as every other list on this site: the Google rating, weighted by how many reviews stand behind it.
- Rank 1
Prof. Dr. Salih Marangoz
4.7(27 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 17.0/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 17.00 / 67How we rank
- Rank 2
Doç. Dr. İlker Sarıkaya
4.7(24 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 16.4/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 16.43 / 67How we rank
- Rank 3
Op. Dr. Salih Şentürk
5.0(19 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 16.3/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 16.26 / 67How we rank
- Rank 4
Op. Dr. Turan Najafov
4.6(19 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 15.0/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 14.96 / 67How we rank
- Rank 5
Op. Dr. Ahmet Küçük
4.3(16 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 13.2/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 13.23 / 67How we rank
- Rank 6
Op. Dr. Sidar Öztürk
5.0(10 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 13.0/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 13.02 / 67How we rank
- Rank 7
Prof. Dr. Levent Eralp
5.0(5 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 9.7/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 9.73 / 67How we rank
- Rank 8
Prof. Dr. Olcay Güler
5.0(5 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 9.7/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 9.73 / 67How we rank
- Rank 9
Prof. Dr. Selami Çakmak
3.7(6 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 7.8/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 7.82 / 67How we rank
- Rank 10
Doç. Dr. Necdet Demir
5.0(3 Google reviews)Istanbul
- Rating & review volume
- Rating & review volume 7.5/50
- Accreditation
- Accreditation 0.0/10
- Years in operation
- Years in operation 0.0/5
- Second-source verification
- Second-source verification 0.0/2
Score 7.53 / 67How we rank
How to read this ranking
Look at the review counts: 3 to 27 across this page. On a clinic ranking those numbers run into the thousands. So this table is less a league table than a starting list — it shows who does this work, not who is best at it.
The clearest evidence sits inside it: one of the founding figures of this field in Türkiye is mid-table because he has five Google reviews. The formula is not misfiring; review count is a poor proxy for experience in a small speciality, and we do not bend the formula for a single page.
Disclosure
Prof. Dr. Olcay Güler has reviewed this page, and he appears in the list above. This site's owner has also worked with him on limb lengthening cases. We are writing both here rather than leaving a reader to discover them.
What makes him the surgeon to review this guide is the same thing that puts him in the ranking: it is his field. Memorial's own profile of him lists limb lengthening surgery among his specialties, naming lengthening over nail, LON and the magnetic nail — the three techniques this guide is built on.
His position is unaffected and cannot be affected: the ranking is computed by the published formula from Google figures, the formula is open at how we rank, and no surgeon can pay for inclusion or for a better place. He sits where his public data puts him.
What this page cannot tell you
It cannot tell you which technique suits your bone, how many centimetres you could gain, what you would be quoted, or how your own result would look. It cannot tell you whether to have this operation at all.
What it can give you is the questions to ask before you start reading a quote, and the sources behind them.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this page medically reviewed?
- Yes. Prof. Dr. Olcay Güler, professor of orthopaedics and traumatology at Memorial Şişli, has read it. The field is the right one: his hospital's own profile lists limb lengthening surgery among his specialties, with lengthening over nail, LON and magnetic nail named. There are two competing interests and both are stated on his card — he appears in the ranking on this page, and this site's owner has worked with him on limb lengthening cases. Neither can move that position; the formula is published and every place is computed from Google figures.
- Why are the scores so low?
- Because the formula weighs a rating by how many people stand behind it, and in this speciality the counts are tiny: between 3 and 27 on this page. A hair transplant clinic can carry several thousand. Two of the formula's four components also cannot apply to a person — accreditation is awarded to facilities, and years-in-operation reads a business's founding year. Compare within this page; never compare a score here with one on a clinic page.
- Is the surgeon at the top the best one?
- No. The score reads public reputation and the evidence behind it, not surgical skill. The clearest proof of that is inside the list: one of the founding figures of this field in Türkiye sits mid-table because he has five Google reviews. The formula is not malfunctioning — review count is a poor proxy for experience in a small speciality, and we would rather print that than bend the formula for one page.
- Why would one surgeon have two different Google ratings?
- Because a surgeon who operates at two addresses can have two Google listings, which splits the reviews between them. We found that for two of the ten here: Prof. Dr. Salih Marangoz and Prof. Dr. Olcay Güler. For each we pinned the listing carrying more reviews, so the figures shown are that listing's. We name them so you can check for yourself — both have two addresses tied to the same website. The wider point still stands: no Google rating shows the whole of a surgeon's work.
Medically reviewed by
Prof. Dr. Olcay Güler
Specialist in orthopaedics and traumatology, Memorial Şişli
Two competing interests, both stated here rather than left to be discovered. Prof. Güler appears in the limb lengthening ranking on this page, and this site’s owner has worked with him on limb lengthening cases. Neither can move where he lands: he has no access to the scoring formula or the data behind it, the formula is published on /how-we-rank, and every place is computed from Google figures. Where he stands is in the list itself, reached by the same arithmetic as everyone else on it — and deliberately not repeated here, because a position moves when a Google figure does and a number written into prose goes quietly false.