Take my advice mate and get it plated right now.The doctors told me that mine would heal up fine and 3 years on its still broken and have the bone "tenting" thru the skin.Just do it!!
Agreed. I've broken mine 2.5 times now, first time I had it plated and it healed fantastically. Then I broke it again with the plate in and bent the plate. It began to heal but 6 weeks later the plate gave way and I had to have a new one put in. I've had two plates and if I could go back I would get a plate again in a heartbeat. Currently its nearly been 5 weeks since the op.
Surgery is not as risky as it used to be. They used to commonly plate it on top (strongest, where my plate is currently) but now days often plate it on the front, as there is a large vein running under the collarbone, and if they screw through that you bleed and die. To avoid risk my doctor didn't put any screws in at the innermost part of the collarbone (the high risk area) and the plate sticks out into my skin a bit now. It hurts if its bumped but otherwise its fine.
One thing to keep in mind is the bone is probably easier to break with a plate in there then without one. The plate makes the bone stiffer, so it doesn't spring to absorb impacts. This is what happened with mine the second time around. Like spinner after both surgery's there is some numbness in the skin around the collarbone. This is from the nerves in the skin stretching over the metal and no longer being as sensitive.
If I remember later I'll upload the X-rays. But if you aren't happy with your doctors opinion you can always seek another one.
) his healed really well, even tho he was back on his bike within days, riding one-handed the bugger!
