I'm currently 32, and have been diagnosed with FAI (femo-acetabular impingement) in both hips, but it's much more severe in my right hip. I first felt it at 15, but kept living an active life that included lots of golf in particular.
It was finally diagnosed as impingement two years ago, and was already too far gone in terms of arthritis to do anything but a full replacement in a number of years.
The pain is now quite constant, and I will be scheduling a hip replacement for later this year. I'll obviously need a revision about 15-20 years from now, and then perhaps another.
My question is what people are hearing from their surgeons about the future, and whether the revisions due to natural decline of the implant are much more difficult than the original surgery. I'm mostly just thinking about what life will be like when I'm older, but so be it I guess!
I'd also just welcome hearing from people in the same boat. It's obviously not a fun thing to be spending my days thinking about! But I haven't golfed or hiked in 2 years, and even shorter walks through the city are now difficult, so it seems worth doing.
I had both hips replaced when I was 33 (23 years ago), have had one revision surgery and am planning to have revision surgery on the other hip later this year.
I was very happy with the original replacements, but they started loosening over tome due to wear of the plastic liner. I had the first revision surgery in August of last year. The surgery was definitely tougher than the original replacement, but I needed bone grafting both on the cup side as well as a large strut type graft attached to my femur. The surgery lasted about 9 hours, the surgeon had reserved the operating room for only 5 hours, but there was a lot of unforeseen clean up. Yes, the first couple months were tough but I have a lot of other joint problems that made it more difficult.
Bottom line, my advice would be to have the surgery, follow all your doctor's instructions and take care of your new hip. Yes, you may need revision surgery eventually, but enjoy your new hip and don't worry about something that might be many years down the road. You have have the fact that the surgery and the devices have advanced a lot in the last 23 years working in your favor. I hope this helps you, but feel free to ask me any other questions since our age at first replacement is the same.
I'm currently 32, and have been diagnosed with FAI (femo-acetabular impingement) in both hips, but it's much more severe in my right hip. I first felt it at 15, but kept living an active life that included lots of golf in particular.
It was finally diagnosed as impingement two years ago, and was already too far gone in terms of arthritis to do anything but a full replacement in a number of years.
The pain is now quite constant, and I will be scheduling a hip replacement for later this year. I'll obviously need a revision about 15-20 years from now, and then perhaps another.
My question is what people are hearing from their surgeons about the future, and whether the revisions due to natural decline of the implant are much more difficult than the original surgery. I'm mostly just thinking about what life will be like when I'm older, but so be it I guess!
I'd also just welcome hearing from people in the same boat. It's obviously not a fun thing to be spending my days thinking about! But I haven't golfed or hiked in 2 years, and even shorter walks through the city are now difficult, so it seems worth doing.
Sorry to hear of your predicament, is hip resurfacing an option? At your age, it may last a good while
