Struggling with decision

I don't get the additional incision deal. Mine was posterior and that's it. As I said there was extra work getting the pins out as they couldn't just screw them out with a tool. All of the work was done through te]he one incision about 10" and looks like a fine line now, no stitches or staples just tape when done.
 
I don't get the additional incision deal. Mine was posterior and that's it. As I said there was extra work getting the pins out as they couldn't just screw them out with a tool. All of the work was done through te]he one incision about 10" and looks like a fine line now, no stitches or staples just tape when done.

Mine will be direct anterior. So he may need the lateral incision to access the pins in order to get them out.
 
It's in the box where her name is. Under your name it says US and Nevada.

Ok, when I click on her name it doesn’t give a location. Just age and gender. Oh well.

You said "Here is an interesting Ted Talk about the minds role in pain if you are interested and if the Mods allow it". Well we didn't as it's not approved information.

I understand. My question was, what are the rules going forward, how do I know what is approved information? Or are the rules, members should not post links? I’m just asking for clarity, I don’t want to argue.
 
@MrDIY, for forum rules, look on the white line below the blue line at the top of the page. You will see "Help & Information". Place cursor on this tab and you will get a drop down menu, the first entry is "Forum Rules and Staff". This should answer a lot of your questions.
 
@MrDIY
He did say that the removal of the pins would add about 30 minutes per side and would add an additional incision on each side of roughly 10 inches on the lateral sides of the hips, with the anterior incisions being about 4” so 4 total incisions. So I’m guessing the procedure would be 3-3.5 hours.

10 inch incision? Wow! My surgeon told me something much different. Like you, I had both hips pinned at age 13 due to SCFE. Unfortunately, about six months after having the pins placed, I took a tumble one day and fell down the side of a small embankment behind my uncle's house (he lived on many acres of rolling hills out in eastern Oklahoma); and little did I know at the time, but that fall resulted in my breaking three of the four pins; both pins in my right hip snapped in half, and one pin in my left hips snapped. And when it came time to remove the pins later that year, my surgeon only removed the pin pieces that were closest to the outer edge of the femur; he left the deeper pin pieces in place.

Now today, at 44, I am ready to have my right hip replaced (although I am considering having both replaced simultaneously). And my surgeon told me that the pieces of broken pins inside both of my femurs would be no problem at all. He will perform a mini-posterior incision (roughly 3-4" long) and said that because of the pins, he would need "about an extra 15 minutes to get the pins out." He demonstrated on the x-ray how he would cut the femur in a certain way in order to easily remove the pins. He said the total operation time would be about 1 hour and 15 minutes (for one hip).

In your case, I'm a bit baffled as to why your surgeon would need to make such large incisions due to the pins being in place. Maybe your individual hip anatomy is simply much different, and presumably, much more complex than is mine. Either way, I wish you the best of luck. The SCFE problem has been a nightmare for me since the age of 13. Over the years, it's greatly reduced my athletic prowess and often made me feel sort of clumsy and uncoordinated. I always wanted to pursue the martial arts, but because my hips always felt so stiff, I never did (except boxing -- I could always throw punches). But to this day I cannot throw a decent kick to save my life. My hips just don't allow for that movement.
 
@MrDIY, I’m one month out from having RTHR done and getting the left done in less than 3 weeks. I am walking on and off with one crutch or unaided. I think my short-term healing will be pretty well done with by my second surgery. I know it may sound weird but my left, still-arthritic hip has indeed been bothering me a bit less, I think because my whole body was so out of whack.

My bruising is almost gone. Some numbness. Mostly the pain is in the wee hours.

Good luck!
 
I'm a bit baffled as to why your surgeon would need to make such large incisions due to the pins being in place.

I’m not sure, I double checked with my wife and she confirms that he said my pins were unusual and that it would be some work to get them out. He said about 30 minutes per side. Thinking back to when I was 14, I remember the surgeon telling my parents that they would be difficult to remove. I requested copies of my X-rays to have a look but if I remember correctly, they don’t have heads on them like the pictures that web searches show for ortho pins. I also don’t remember them having pronounced threads like the ones I see on the internet, but that may all be bad memory on my part.
 
5C3352AD-C867-41F7-9479-EB36555FCE4B.jpeg
Found some old X-rays. So no heads and the threads are very small looking. and it looks like they are only on the first 2 cm of the screws
 
@MrDIY, I’m one month out from having RTHR done and getting the left done in less than 3 weeks. I am walking on and off with one crutch or unaided. I think my short-term healing will be pretty well done with by my second surgery. I know it may sound weird but my left, still-arthritic hip has indeed been bothering me a bit less, I think because my whole body was so out of whack.

My bruising is almost gone. Some numbness. Mostly the pain is in the wee hours.

Good luck!
Thank you El11! Good to hear you are doing better!
 
I wish my left hip got relief. Now it is the one screaming, like the ignored child. If given the option, get them both done now.
 
I had scfe at age 10. A failed pin removal at 11ish. The only thing that accomplished was breaking off the heads. Second surgeon said first surgeons choice of pins was not a good one. So Nov 2018 I had a LTHR and the hip had to be taken out in one peice as no chance of removing screws. I have about a 11 inch scar and I had 50 staples posterior. My surgeon needed the extra room to get my hip out. The difficult removal resulted in a slight upper femur fracture that had to be cabled. I am having issues with a loose stem. Just thought I would share my surgeons reason for a long incision. Do any of you have a limp now that you didn't have before? I am 3.5 months post op and still have a limp. My muscles don't seem to work right. My surgeon thought it may be related to the scfe and my muscles adapting to that and now I am fixed so they don't work the same.
 

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