Dr Masonis in Charlotte, NC

[karind]

I need to have a left hip replacement and have decided that hip resurfacing is more appealing to me.  After 3 consultations with doctors that wanted to do a THR, I have found Dr. Masonis who performs the resurfacing.  I noticed he is not on your list of drs, does anyone know of him and what are your recommendations.

[Pat Walter]

Hi

As you probably know, I am a great believer in really experienced hip resurfacing surgeons.  I have a handful of medical studies on my website that indicate the steep learning curve for hip resurfacing.  The common accepted benchmark is 100 hip resurfacings to be expereinced.

Many people have been happy to be a surgeons first, third to thirtieth resurfacing and have not had problems.  The statistics indicate that the 6% of problems like femur neck fracturing, acetabular cup loosenings, infections etc occur early in a surgeons career.  So if you are a gambling person, you have to decide if you like the odds or not.

I liked having a doctor that has done 3000 hip resurfacings  - seen it all and done it all.  Even Dr. De Smet who I used has a difficult surgeries at times.    I was older and did not want to take a chance with inexperience.

You are close to Dr. Gross who has done over 1000 hip resurfacing in SC.  He has a large number of very happy surface hippies.  He will also give you a free consultation if you call or send him an email and send your x-rays either digitally with the email or by snail mail.  He will eventually call you and talk on the phone.  He does take a little time to answer.  If I lived in your area, I would consider him.

The one thing you need to watch with the newer hip resurfacing surgeons that if they find you have a difficult case - the want to do a THR.  If you use an experienced surgeon, they are more likely to give you a resurfacing even if there are problems as long as they know you are a good candidate.

That is about all I can say.  I am sorry, but there are many, many newer doctors that I don't know about and are not on my list.  If you use Dr. Masonis and are happy, write a little story so more people can learn about him.  If you know how many hip resurfacings he/she has done to date, let me know.

Did you see my list of questions to ask your doctor?  http://www.surfacehippy.info/questionsfordoctor.php

Good Luck and keep in touch.

Pat

[ecuwolfe]

I have also been considering Dr. Masonis but like you I don't feel comfortable having him do my HR since he isn't a big advocate of this procedure and I work in healthcare and happen to know the Smith and Nephew BHR rep here in Charlotte. He actually recommended Dr. Ross in High Point over Dr. Masonis. Unfortunately Dr. Ross was tragically killed in a car accident on 1/5. Like you, I had already decided to have Dr. Gross do my HR procedure due to his experience with the procedure. I picked up my records and fed ex'd them to Columbia yesterday. I am scheduled for Feb. 28th. Having issues with Cigna since Dr. Gross doesn't participate with Cigna and  is out of network. Their staff has fought on my behalf by telling Cigna that their own coverage stresses the steep learning curve on this procedure and NC doesn't have any doc's that have done more that 60 cases so far. Hope they will agree to let me go to Dr. Gross. 

[Pat Walter]

Hi

 Welcome to Hip Talk.

The is too bad about Dr. Ross.  It is always interesting to hear what the Medical Reps have to say.  They are often in the operating rooms during surgery, or so I am told, and really know a lot about the doctors. 

I hope you can get your insurance to cover Dr. Gross.  Many people have had long, difficult battles with their insurance companies.  Many have also won.
 
Good Luck with your upcoming surgery with Dr. Gross.

Please keep in touch and let us know how things go.

Pat