Hip replacement surgical approaches

My comment would be only one replacement at a time. I have bulging disc's as well. My surgeon offered to do both and then changed his mind for my benefit. After having one done I agree only one at a time.
Shelley

Thank you for your response. Did you opt for the anterior or posterior approach when you had your hip done? How was your recovery? Did your bulging discs worsen after the procedure or hamper your recovery?

Do you have plans to do the second hip as well? Do you have any pain that radiates down your legs to the tops of your feet from the bulging discs? I have S1L5 especially at 5mm. I am wondering if your recovery has gone well with the bulging disc issue.

January 5th 2023 was the anterior at the groin. I had very bad sciatica in my butt and calf for ten months. After seeing the surgeon and having an MRI on my back, he suggested my back was the issue. My back has been an issue since age 14, now I am 67. Another Doctor in his practice did an Ultra sound on my butt and found scar tissue was trapping ,my sciatic nerve and my femur bone was jabbing the nerve as well.
He went back in on October 5th 2023 Posterior freed up the nerve and put a different ball in to keep the femur bone from hitting the nerve.
My disc's have not worsened. They have not hampered my recovery.
I will say I hade a better recovery with the anterior approach.
Hope this helps.

Honestly, I don't really have pain from the bulging disc's. I have had many epiderals in the past with bed rest. Back exercises to strengthen the core. I'm told by Mayo Doctor's and others that even most all of us starting at age 45 have some sort of bulge in their disc's and don't know it. I know my limitations and I stick with that. I do not have radiating pain in my leg to my toes. I do however have sciatica pain on and off from hip surgery. Even the second redo hasn't completely taken away all of that pain away. The exercises I am doing are causing more sciatica, therefore I don't do them every day. I'm fairly certain I have an implant issue therefore I will be seeing my surgeon again for some advice for treatment.
As for my other hip. I am going to cancel my upcoming surgery in April. I feel uncomfortable proceeding without being strong on the surgery hip and pain free.
Sorry for going on, I hope this helps you.
If you are interested I did get a consult on my back from Dr. Sebastian at Mayo Rochester in August of 23.
Even though he agrees my back is a mess it does not require immediate attention. I was fortunate enough to know a resident who worked with him and regards him very highly.

There is a new third approach to THR: Superpath. It might be the solution to your concern. The downside is there are very few surgeons in the country trained in this procedure and even, once trained, you want someone who has used the approach numerous times. I used the surgeon who invented Superpath (Jimmy Chow) but there is only one other surgeon in greater Phoenix who uses this approach and even in many large cities, there are not many. Since your surgeon has concerns about anterior for you, Superpath could be an alternative to the older, traditional posterior approach.

I also have concern about a surgeon who does both posterior and anterior. While THR surgery is very successful it is complex and I, for one, prefer someone who has muscle memory in one approach.

I went to a different Orthopedic surgeon yesterday. He said he could put me in for BILATERAL ANTERIOR APPROACH HIP REPLACMENT, but would start off w/the first. If it goes well, continue to the second. I am 67 years old. He said he usually does bilateral on 40, 50 year olds. He says due to blood loss, cardiac event could occur during surgery or w/i 30 days post-op, with increased risk with doing the bilateral. I am 4'11, 135 lbs. He said due to my small stature, blood loss is more significant risk. He says if do only one, second would be 3 months or so later. He is younger than other Ortho I went to. He says he has done 700-800 Total hips. Is that alot? Is that considered good experience? He only does anterior approach, no posterior. Does anyone know how much experience is considered good?

Why do both sides at once? I had the anterior approach 2 years ago and still dealing with numb leg and peripheral neuropathy. I have tingling and numbness in the left thigh and it goes down to the foot. When they do this, they make an incision and then pry the skin and muscles apart which damages all nerves. The surgeon also admitted he could have cut or damaged the lateral cutaneous femoral nerve.

daisy22, I had left THR March 2023 and have had the numb nd tingling nerve pain on the anterior/upper thigh since then. My ortho says 18 months it will go away with a 6-7 inch patch of numbness. He said it was caused by the femur nerve being bruised or irritated when that nerve is retracted during surgery. I have known 4 friends who had this surgery and did not have this.

You say your surgeon admitted he could have cut or damaged the lateral cutaneous femoral nerve. Did you ever consider consulting with a lawyer about this issue? I had a lot of bruising on the back buttocks and thigh area after the surgery, and my foot has blotchy blue areas, like bruised.

I would not have 2 done at once but have heard some people opt for that.

Yes, I am going to go to a lawyer. It will be 2 years in April and things are not any better, so I think a lot went wrong damaging the nerves. I also have peripheral neuropathy in the left foot that is now going up the leg. I wish I'd done the hip replacement on the side. I think pulling the layers of muscle and nerves apart is now a good option.