sfbaylover
junior member
United States@SelfHelp
Thank you again for recommending both Dr. Dorr and Dr. Yun to me. I appreciate the effort it took for you to post the links associated with each surgeon. I knew of Larry Dorr but not of Dr. Yun, but I had never extensively researched Dr. Dorr prior to reading your links. And then I investigated and researched Dr. Yun as well. Thank you again for the valuable information!
Similar to you, I have pins in both of my hips that will need to be removed during the THR operation. I had childhood SCFE which required pin fixation in both hips. And the pins actually broke off in the bone months after surgery, and when the time came to remove the pins, the surgeon only removed the pieces that were closest to the surface; the deeper pin pieces were left in. I was told that it would be too much of a pain in the butt to go in and try to remove the pins; I was advised to just leave them there.
Thankfully, every surgeon I have seen said that it would be no problem to remove the pins during THR surgery and that having the pins in the bone would not really complicate the surgery in any way -- other than requiring a bit more attention to how and where they cut the bone. One surgeon said it would take about an extra 15 minutes to deal with the pins (so instead of an hour-long surgery, it may take an hour and fifteen minutes). And I was always told that I was a good candidate for either anterior or posterior approach.
But in regards to Dr. Dorr and Dr. Yun -- I did not ask either doctor whether or not they would be using any assistants or interns to help with the surgery. I just assumed that the lead doctor was the guy who would be doing the surgery, but I know that is not always the case. Dr. Yun did give me a large booklet describing the whole process (including pre-surgery, surgery, post-surgery, rehab, etc.) and in the booklet it did state specifically that Dr. Yun would be the surgeon performing the actual surgery from first cut of the skin up to but not including final closure -- so Dr. Yun would be doing the surgery but then would have an assistant to actually close the incision afterwards. I was actually very impressed with the amount of information contained in the booklet and the attention to detail that it gave to each aspect of the whole process. It was very precise!
With Dr. Dorr, I received no such booklet. And I don't know whether or not he uses assistants or interns to help with surgery or possibly to perform the entire surgery. I can call or e-mail and ask for that information. I would prefer the surgeon himself to do the actual main surgery though, although I wouldn't care if assistants did some of the less important aspects of the surgery.
And both surgeons use the MAKO robotic arm for their joint replacements.
Saint Joseph's orthopedic center seems to be top notch and extremely well run. And USC of course has a stellar reputation, but I do not know if it has a separate orthopedic unit or wing dedicated solely to orthopedics or not. That is another question I need to research further.
Thanks again for your insight and input.
Thank you again for recommending both Dr. Dorr and Dr. Yun to me. I appreciate the effort it took for you to post the links associated with each surgeon. I knew of Larry Dorr but not of Dr. Yun, but I had never extensively researched Dr. Dorr prior to reading your links. And then I investigated and researched Dr. Yun as well. Thank you again for the valuable information!
Similar to you, I have pins in both of my hips that will need to be removed during the THR operation. I had childhood SCFE which required pin fixation in both hips. And the pins actually broke off in the bone months after surgery, and when the time came to remove the pins, the surgeon only removed the pieces that were closest to the surface; the deeper pin pieces were left in. I was told that it would be too much of a pain in the butt to go in and try to remove the pins; I was advised to just leave them there.
Thankfully, every surgeon I have seen said that it would be no problem to remove the pins during THR surgery and that having the pins in the bone would not really complicate the surgery in any way -- other than requiring a bit more attention to how and where they cut the bone. One surgeon said it would take about an extra 15 minutes to deal with the pins (so instead of an hour-long surgery, it may take an hour and fifteen minutes). And I was always told that I was a good candidate for either anterior or posterior approach.
But in regards to Dr. Dorr and Dr. Yun -- I did not ask either doctor whether or not they would be using any assistants or interns to help with the surgery. I just assumed that the lead doctor was the guy who would be doing the surgery, but I know that is not always the case. Dr. Yun did give me a large booklet describing the whole process (including pre-surgery, surgery, post-surgery, rehab, etc.) and in the booklet it did state specifically that Dr. Yun would be the surgeon performing the actual surgery from first cut of the skin up to but not including final closure -- so Dr. Yun would be doing the surgery but then would have an assistant to actually close the incision afterwards. I was actually very impressed with the amount of information contained in the booklet and the attention to detail that it gave to each aspect of the whole process. It was very precise!
With Dr. Dorr, I received no such booklet. And I don't know whether or not he uses assistants or interns to help with surgery or possibly to perform the entire surgery. I can call or e-mail and ask for that information. I would prefer the surgeon himself to do the actual main surgery though, although I wouldn't care if assistants did some of the less important aspects of the surgery.
And both surgeons use the MAKO robotic arm for their joint replacements.
Saint Joseph's orthopedic center seems to be top notch and extremely well run. And USC of course has a stellar reputation, but I do not know if it has a separate orthopedic unit or wing dedicated solely to orthopedics or not. That is another question I need to research further.
Thanks again for your insight and input.
