Necessity of hip revision surgery?

@tsheba123 Let me tell you that dislocation is NO FUN. It happened to me after one of my revisions, and I don't wish it on anyone. The surgeon immediately revised it again, and it has been trouble-free for over 13 years.
In total, I had 5 hip surgeries - THR on both sides over 15 years ago, then 3 revisions - I must say they were a great success, and no worse than the original operations.

If you question the need, maybe you can consult a different ortho for their opinion - preferably one who specializes in revisions.

thank you, I appreciate the feedback. I do have an appointment set up for a second opinion.

Why did your hip dislocate and what were the reasons for the other two revisions? That seems extreme to me. I'm spoiled because I had my left hip done 14 years ago and sailed through it, but of course I was younger.

Did you have to stay in the hospital longer for the revisions as opposed to the original operation?

My original implants were faulty and were recalled. The dislocation happened because the surgeon was trying to correct a life-long discrepancy in leg length, which left the muscles and tendons "loose". There was no difference in hospital stay for revision, and because only one component was changed out recovery was actually a little faster.

Thank you Sue. How many days were you in the hospital for each surgery?

I'm small and lost enough blood to need a transfusion each time so was in hospital 2 days each time.

I was in the hospital 3 nights 4 days each hip. I was allowed to stay an extra day because I had no one at home. My first surgery included a fracture and the surgeon admitted he might’ve pressed too hard when he put in the implant. So he wired it at that time. That recovery took three months for all the surgical swelling to resolve. And a transfusion in the hospital. I am prone to transfusions. The second surgery, the surgical swelling went down in a couple weeks. I was back in my pants and no transfusion. It’s helpful if you like your surgery to use the same surgeon. It was clear my surgeon learned my body. Period I never thought a moment about the fracture that may have been doctor induced, however after my cervical surgery where my bones fell apart, I realized that the doctor may have not understood entirely the condition of my bones because the DEXA scans we do are not exact unfortunately. I know for sure I have the top hip surgeon in all of my area. Wherever I went, people exclaimed what a great surgeon he was. My suggestion is always to get multiple opinions and research your surgeons. Make sure you trust and are comfortable with every aspect of what you can know 12 years later. I’m thoroughly happy with my hip replacement surgeries. Surgery is an art form and surgeons make miracles happen. But they also might be responsible for necessitating revisions and so it’s helpful to go to other surgeons in the area to find out if they have a record, which is what happened with my lumbar surgery. The guy who was supposed to do my lumbar surgery who turned out to be impossible to work with turned out to have a ton of revision surgeries. I found this out by going to my fourth surgeon who ended up doing the surgery. By the grace of God I went.

Thank you so much for all this detailed information. I'm definitely going for a second opinion. I just hate that I feel like I'm in limbo. Can't go forward or backward until this is resolved and appointments are months apart.

@tsheba123 it’s possible I didn’t deal with the point of your question and only answered the hospital. Stay and not the context. If you had surgery 10 weeks ago, you should be asking these questions to the surgeon. You had the surgery with and you shouldn’t be waiting months for a visit you have a problem that requires an intervention. A serious intervention. If you wait a couple months and then you would wait a couple months for another surgery then you’re going to have an additional problem one of a healed dislocation. Fractures heal, but they need to be wired quickly so they can heal in the correct position. From what you wrote it sounds like you’re gonna have an improper healing. I’d call back and find out what the consequences of waiting. On top of that it sounds like you’re gonna be in a lot of pain and unable to get back to exercising and proper healing and strength so when you do go for revision surgery, you’re gonna be in a weekend and compromise state. My surgeon at Ucsd is fantastic however, my screws moved and they had to take me in right away to do a more major surgery which I suppose you could call a revision on the first. I think the Hope was that I was strong enough to withstand the second surgery, which was not going to be needed. From all the tests, my bones were supposed to be stronger than they were. When they opened me up, they found the truth. So I would investigate immediately the consequence of waiting or returning and scheduling the revision as they may be suggesting. Only if you have issues with the surgeon, should you at this point check around for a different doctor, would be my suggestion good luck!

yes, I have an appointment next week with the original surgeon to ask the pertinent questions and then will decide what to do. Thanks again for your feedback.