Re: Resurfacing v. THR with Ceramic on Ceramic

[Guest guest]

If your OS hasn't mentioned resurfacing at your young age, I would seriously

look at changing OS'S Dr De Smet said at one point that it was 'cruel' to do a

THR on someone as young as you . He's the OS in Belgium who has done 1000+

resurfs, and did mine when I was rejected here in Canada as being too far gone.

Eight months later I am doing great with my resurfaced hip. Resurfacing

has these advantages: give you far more range of motion, so it is pretty much

impossible to dislocate the hip, unlike a THR; recovery time is very quick; if

it fails in a few years, you can then get a THR; THRs don't last much more than

12-15 years in an active person, and can only be redone successfully once or

twice at most - then what? A wheelchair? The type of material used in

resurfacing now is very durable - metal is used, whereas the failures in the

early 80's were made of a type of plastic and didn't last. The metal ones have

been in use since approx 1993, so longterm data is not available, but if our

expert OS, Dr De Smet is anyone to go by, he said he figured they'd last about

500 years....so I figure that's about long enough for me...:-)

As someone else wisely has advised you, stall off on the THRs until you can

determine whether or not you are a good candidate for reurfs. Primarily you

have to have good bone stock (i.e., good density). I sent my xrays to Dr De

Smet and he got back to me within two hours of receiving them to give me the

okay - so get your xrays to an OS who does resurfs (preferably someone who has

done lots of them). There have been innumerable people on this site who

initially got an OS who didn't favour resurfs (usually someone who didn't know

how to do them) and then found an OS who does them, and went ahead succcessfully

to have the surgery. Carry on searching and good luck. Let us know what

happens.

Sharry

Resurfacing v. THR with Ceramic on Ceramic

I am 33 year old male and currently scheduled for 2 THRs, 9 days

apart. I have only recently come across all this information on

Resurfacing and obviously am now questioning my THRs. Any insight

on the following questions would be appreciated. In the meantime I

am also contacting Dr. Gross' office.

1) What determines if Resurfacing is an option?

2) How much more active can one be with a Resurfacing v. a THR with

C/C (ex. Ice Hockey, Baseball are not recommended with a THR)?

3) What is the projected (estimated) life of a Resurface v. C/C for

an active adult?

4) If the Resurface fails, is a C/C THR still an option?

Time is of the essence for me since I am scheduled for the first THR

a week from tomorrow. I somehow need to gather enough information

to at least make a decision to go through with next week or not.

Thanks for your thoughts.