Paul Oakes Hip Resurfacing Revision to a BHR with Mr. McMinn 2009

Paul Oakes is a retired electrical engineer and an active golfer, reflecting on his revision surgery. Mr McMinn revised the original Mark I McMinn Resurfacing to a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR), seventeen years later. The good bone that would have been removed in a total hip replacement was retained in the process.

You can read Paul’s story on our website here: http://www.mcminncentre.co.uk/paul-oa…

Retired Electrical Engineer Paul had a prototype Metal-on-Metal (MoM) Resurfacing with Mr McMinn in 1991. Paul explains that at the time, “I’d got to the point where I couldn’t walk 100 yards at the age of 45. My Consultant said, ‘you’re too young for surgery – the average life of a conventional hip replacement is only 10 years. And at your age it won’t even be that long!'”

His Consultant was, however, able to point Paul in the direction of Mr McMinn who’d recently begun resurfacing hips as an alternative to total hip replacement. Hip resurfacing was a new, untried technology in 1991 and Paul recalls, “Mr McMinn said, ‘we’ve no idea how long it’s going to last, but at least it will give you time.” If his resurfacing failed, it would at least be a stop-gap measure before getting the total hip replacement, allowing Paul to be pain-free and remain active in the interim.

“It was like a jump in dark basically because we had no idea how long it was going to last,” says Paul. “But as time went on and the muscles around it got stronger, I got a feeling it was going to last a long while.” As it happened, the resurfacing went on to last 17 years! And its longevity had nothing to do with Paul going easy on it. He comments, “It had a lot of activity on it – I played a lot of golf and dog walked twice a day. After all the healing process is done, you actually forget you’ve got a replacement hip.”

Paul’s hip eventually required revision surgery and, under normal circumstances, Mr McMinn would revise the resurfacing to a total hip replacement. But in this instance, he felt Paul was suitable for a BHR – though he wouldn’t be sure until the day of surgery. Paul’s BHR went ahead as planned in February 2009 and he recalls, “When Mr McMinn actually did the operation, he came in and he was very pleased to be able to do another resurfacing.”

Paul’s delighted to have another bone-conserving hip and says, “If your hip is capable of having a resurfacing, then I would go for that every time rather than having a conventional hip. It keeps your options open – and I’m a great believer of keeping your options open. Once you’ve lost the knuckle of your hip, that’s it. You can’t put things back.”