My name is Don Kirk and I live in Fairbanks, Alaska. Last fall I discovered that my right hip would need replacing. I had received an injury to this leg when 5 years old and the doctors used a 4″ long plate to rejoin my femur. After 55 years this plate was overgrown with bone. My local doctor was hot to give me a THR but didn’t want to deal with removing the prior implant that would be in the way of the femoral stem of a THR. I went to Seattle to see a specialist at the U of Washington, but he didn’t want to deal with the implant either. I checked the web on implant removal and found next to nothing, it was during these web searches that I discovered hip resurfacing. Neither doctor even mentioned this to me as an alternative treatment, which disgusted me. When I asked my local doctor about hip resurfacing, he told me that he knew about but still felt that a THR would be better for me in spite of the fact that I couldn’t find a doctor interested in removing the plate from my leg.

After contacting Wright (Conserve +), I found a surgeon in Seattle who does hip resurfacing and I had the procedure done on 1/9/06. My insurance company covered it too, while not FDA approved. It is 8 weeks after surgery and I am glad to have a hip resurfacing instead of a THR.