Question
I have a question regarding hip revisions. I am a 43 female who had hip dysplasia as a child. I had two surgeries to correct this. When I was 24 I had a hip replacement. This year it came loose, I had a right revision done in April 2007. Due to impingement of scar tissue, I just had it redone again in July, they replaced the ball and cleaned out the scar tissue, also put in a longer stem. My question is how many revisions can you have on one hip?  Have you had a lot of revisions? Have you had 2 revision in such a short time? It is taking forever to get my muscles back. Thank you so very much for your time.

Answer
Hi Deb

Your replacement lasted a very, very long time and you should be thankful for that!  You must be doing something right!!!!

I have had four revisions on each hip.  Each hip revision lasted about 10 years or so.  I asked my surgeon if he knew of anyone who had received more revisions than I have, and he did not know of any cases.

On my last revision, they had to graft some bone to each hip, to secure the replacement and make it more stable, because as you are probably aware, with each revision, there is less bone to use due to osteolysis. (disintegration of the bone from the previous surgery).

If you are not on a bone building drug like Fosamax or Boniva, I would suggest that you ask your doctor about it.
These drugs build bone mass and make your bones stronger.

As far as your muscles, I wouldn't worry too much about it, since you are only four months out of surgery.  It takes longer each time to get the muscles back to form.  If you swim, that helps a lot.  Also I was told pool walking is a good exercise too.

In addition, the newer replacements are constantly being improved, and it may be that each surgery you need, gets easier.  Because my first set were put in at an early age,   (My first set was put in at 16), and I am now 49, my case is much different than yours.

Just try and keep the worry to a minimum and take each day at a time, and you'll be fine.  My best wishes to your for a continued successful recovery.

I wish you the best of luck and if you have further questions, you can email me directly at:  [email protected]

Sharon Davis