Modern orthopedic surgery often uses steel plates and nails to fix fractures, and many patients ask: Should I remove the plates and nails after the fracture heals? For the human body, the steel plate and nail is an external object, its function is only to fix the fracture temporarily, once the fracture is healed, it will lose its function. Since the steel plates and nails are metal objects, they may have some effects on the human body, such as the release of metal ions, the protrusion of the plates causing difficulties in sliding the tendons, and affecting the human body to do MRI examination, etc. Therefore, they should be removed in general. However, for some elderly (>80 years old) frail patients, or some special parts (such as anterior spinal internal fixation, buried in the bone steel nail) when removed easily cause greater trauma, can not be removed. When to remove? In principle, steel plates and nails can be removed after they have completed their functional role, but for insurance purposes, they are usually removed after one year. Some special areas may take longer. For example, forearm fractures usually take 1.5 years and thigh bone (femoral stem) fractures take 2 years to be removed. The principle of removal is based on the x-ray, and the fracture can be removed when it is completely healed. After removal, a protective period of 2 months is needed because after removal of the screw, a cavity is left (larger cavities sometimes remain for several years and require bone grafting or filling with osteoinductive agents such as BMP), thus causing a weakening of the bone strength.