Question
Hello,

My daughter is eight years old. A couple of months ago a doctor has noticed that her right hip bone is longer than her left resulting in her right leg being almost 1.5 centimeters longer than her left leg, the left is normal. We have been to different doctors and heard different opinions. One doctor suggested to do a surgery at the age of 14, and another doctor suggested to do one surgery now and my daughter has to walk 4 months with canes and then another surgery in 5 years from now because he said that two surgeries are neccessary and not just one.
My question is what is better and right to do in this case?

I'm not sure but I have heard that this kind of bone illness is called Beckham's Syndrome. Any reference is very appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Answer
Hi Michael

I thought about this for a few minutes and thought about what I would do if I was in your position and this were my child.

The first thing I would do is find out how much experience each doctor has with pediatric cases.  Children are not little adults.  They are growing, and at 8 years old, your daughter has a lot of growing still to come.  If you opt to wait until she is 14, will she still need two surgeries?  If she will only need the one surgery if you wait, I would wait.  But make sure that the doctor who is telling you this has experience with children.  If not, you need to find a doctor who has treated children with the same problem as your daughter.

Surgery is traumatic for everyone, especially children, but the good thing is that children bounce back quicker than adults.  But the main thing I would be concerned with is traumatizing your daughter the least you have to and if waiting until she is 14 will lessen the chance that she will need two surgeries, I would wait.

My first surgery was at 16.  They did not want to do the surgery earlier than that age because I was still growing.  At 14-16 growth slows and if the surgery will affect her growth (sometimes hip surgery stops growth), wait if you can.

If your daughter is in pain, see if you can take the shoe of the shorter leg, and build up the sole of the shoe so that her legs will be more even in length.  They may be able to add a lift inside the shoe and then build it up slightly on the outside so that her legs will closer to the same length and help her pain, if she has pain.  If her one leg is shorter, and you have not added a lift to her shoe, do so now because she is probably experiencing some spinal pain and/or back pain because she is walking unevenly.  

I wish you and your family much luck and please keep me updated as to the health of your daughter.

Warmly

Sharon Davis