Hi everyone,
My name is charlie and I’m a 25 year old engineer from London. I was diagnosed with bilateral hip impingements when I was 19 and after 3 arthroscopy’s (1 on right, no problems since and 2 on troublesome left), I am still in pain and unfortunately recently had an MRI which revealed grade 4 cartilage damage in the front of my hip.
if anyone has or knows someone who has had a resurfacing so young please reach out, I am desperate to understand the potential benefits but also the implications of having this operation so young.
Also, please can you recommend surgeons/ consultants here in the UK and any personal experience of how this operation works with insurance.
Any help is greatly appreciated
Regards
Charlie
Hey Charlie,
I am 28yo engineer in Florida and am in the exact same boat. Had 2 hip scopes on Left hip, and those didn't do much for me. Then had one on my right. But that didn't do a whole lot for me either. I have a hip resurfacing scheduled for January 31st next year. I am super nervous, but ultimately my deciding factor was the fact that it isn't going to get any better and that I would rather be able to run around with my kids while they are still young than suffer until I'm 50 and my kids are all grown up. Plus, worst case scenario they fail me after 20 years (>90% are still in after 20 years), that would put me at 48 and who knows what technology they will have by then. Worst case scenario I end up with a couple of total hips when these ones fail, but I don't forsee that being for a long time. A guy named Brian Bruns is a professional kick boxer who had bilateral hip resurfacing at 28/29 and he is planning on going back to competing. Same thing from a guy named Jannes Vercaemst. I would recommend reaching out to them to get their experience. Ultimately you will want to first find a surgeon who does a lot of these and has good results. I chose Dr. Peter Brooks who just happens to live about an hour away from me
Hi nafisher,
Thanks for reaching out, it seems we have had similar journeys.
I agree, if you know 100% that the pain is coming from the hip, there is no point waiting around and suffering untill you get to an age where hip surgery like this is deemed ‘acceptable’. Good luck to you with your operation.
I have two questions:
1. In terms of imaging, what did you have to provide your surgeon? And did this imaging clearly reveal cartilage damage?
2. Prior to deciding on the surgery, have you had any diagnostic/ therapeutic injections?
Before committing to a hip resurfacing procedure, I want to know 100% that the pain is because of the lack of cartilage in my hip. I know there’s cartilage damage in there, as I’ve had two surgeons confirm during the arthroscopies + a recent MRI showing damage. However, I have had hip capsule / psoas issues since my latest op and there’s a small part of my that thinks the pain could be coming from there…. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than having a surgery like that and still being in this pain. Essentially did you have conclusive evidence that the pain and limitations you were experiencing were coming from the lack of cartilage in your hip??
Thank you
Charlie
All Dr. Brooks asked for was an xray. I couldn't really see anything on the xray, but I have no idea on what to look for. He said there was significant damage on my left and a bit on my right too. Like you though, I had two different surgeons go in and reported "significant chondromalasia" aka arthritis.
I did have cortisone injections. They did absolutely nothing. I wouldn't waste your time. I also tried the FAI fix (Google it), but that didn't really fix the issue either.
As far as my symptoms, it doesn't bother me all the time, but I definitely can't run or play most sports and after working out or walking a long distance it would ache severely for a couple days after. It would also cause extremely sharp shooting pain in my hip joint when I moved it in certain ways after overexerting it. I don't know what else would cause that kind of pain besides arthritis.
Godspeed brother!
Nick
Thanks for the advice, I agree there’s not much point wasting my time. I just need to start speaking to surgeons here in the UK (insurance will only cover me here) but I’m finding a lot of the best surgeons are in the US and one in Belgium.
Do you know which device you are going to have? I don’t know much about Brooks but I’ve researched a lot about Dr Gross, his results seem far superior to anyone else’s and uses the magnum/recap implant with porous femoral fixation (currently 99% survive at 15 years), if I had a preference, I would choose him. Also, have you had any metal sensitivity tests or anything like that before hand? i think it’s called the lymphocyte transformation test, however, there have been some studies recently that say it does not predict clinical problems
Thanks again Nick
Hi,
I am a bit out of touch with UK BHR surgeons as mine were done a long time ago. I think that Derek McMinn has retired now. Sarah Muirhead-Allwood is one star who comes to mind. (Andy Murray's surgeon).
Wishing you all the best.
Professor Dominic Meek, Glasgow. Please read my story.