Surgery - too soon??

[hernanu]

Best of luck today! Let us know how you are when you can.

[hipgirlatheart]

Hi guys,

why am I not writing in Hip Stories????
Let this be a lesson to all ye- obviously I am too trusting for my own good.

Because I was in a hurry to get on with living, I did not research enough. I thought this device that worked for my clients would work for me. Done. And move on. How foolish.

I'm allergic to metal that is earrings, watch clasps, belt buckles. I swear my angels are working overtime for me. At least the nurse who connected my charted allergy with the BHR was, right before being wheeled into the OR. There is co-cr-mo in the BH but according to the rep, also nickel. In miniscule amount as I'm researching. Still. I'd had no blood tests to test other metals. This is a bad pre-op hip drama. I wasn't up for writing til now. I wanted to let people know where I was especially as you've suported me. Everyone else can all avoid this. I am not mentally prepared for another surgery anytime soon. I am researching doctors, devices. Sending x-rays. I'm looking at summer.

I got a summer tour sub. So disappointed :((((

I had no pre-op consultation in person other than testing the hip, x-rays.

Dr Palmer would have taken a chance last Friday and given me the metal BH. And if I developed a reaction? "We just replace it in 3 years." That was all I needed to hear to feel good about walking out.

I'm holding back all other comments.

[Dannywayoflife]

Sorry to hear of your dramas! It may be worth contacting some of the world renowned surgeons and asking their opinions. I am fairly sure that adverse reaction to metals in jewellery etc and a bad reaction to the vitalium alloy used in the bhr are 2 very different things. I could be wrong tho but I'm sure I've read that some where.

Danny

[hernanu]

Sorry to hear about that!

As Danny mentions, get in touch with other surgeons to get the low down on the correlation between skin reaction to metals and implants.

If it's summer, that gives you more time to research and find both the doctor and the device that you are confident in.

[Miguelito]

I am very sorry to hear about the cancellation. I don't know anything about metal allergies so can't comment intelligently. I am sure you will figure out the best course of action.

Mike

[hernanu]

Hi Margi,

Some information about the relationship between skin sensitivity to metals and implant sensitivity.

In the linked 2007 paper, they were looking at knee implants, but the principles should carry over.

The fraction of the overall population that is sensitive to metals on skin is about 11 to 14 percent. A good number of this is sensitivity to nickel.

While is is difficult to make a correlation between the two, the paper notes that an allergic reaction to implanted metals seems to be at about 1 percent or less. It does exist, but does not correlate to skin sensitivity.

They also note that allergic reactions seem to be more tied to implants that fail than  to implants that are functioning correctly.

This is a paper that is a bit dated, but posted some reasonable results. Just one more point of information for you.

You can also look at the referred papers for more information.

http://www.healio.com/orthopedics/knee/news/online/%7B6ed3ebf8-1253-41c6-bd45-9657f96b49c2%7D/orthopedic-metal-immune-hypersensitivity

[Dan L]

Very sorry to hear of the outcome of the attempt at surgery.

Just my 2 cents but anywhere that this occured " I had no pre-op consultation in person other than testing the hip, x-rays." would not be a place I would consider for such a major surgery.  Your nurse/angel deserves a lot of credit.

Dan