What Are Risks Of Delaying My Hip Replacement Surgery?

What Are Risks Of Delaying My Hip Replacement Surgery?

Your rights as a patient permit you to decide when to undergo your hip replacement surgery. Your doctor can only provide professional advices from their many years of experience. A high chance is that your surgeon will recommend you to undergo hip replacement as soon as possible in order to reduce pain and prevent aggravating the injury. However, it all depends on you to make the ultimate call as you may have concerns such as your finances, pre-planned overseas trip and many more. So what are some risks of delaying your hip replacement surgery?
 

Deterioration of joint tissues

The most serious risk when you delay surgery is the possible deterioration of joint tissues as well as further injuries to the hip joint. This is especially so in patients suffering from degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis. As osteoarthritis progress, the diseased joint wears out more. It will ultimately lead to a deformed joint. When the diseased joint is at its infancy stage, hip resurfacing is one of the possible treatment methods. However, a delay of surgery will render this option impossible.
 

Sedentary lifestyle

Patients who delay surgery may also become sedentary after a certain period and daily simple activities and task will soon become hard to carry out. As pain and discomfort set in, patients will find it difficult to walk around. This will then lead to muscle atrophy.
 

Revision surgery has its limit

One important thing you need to know is that your implant has a finite lifespan. The wear and tear rate varies among patients due to the different activity levels but most will be able to last for at least a decade.

Revision surgery is much more complex than the first surgery as there are lesser bones and tissues to work with. Ageing will also cause a reduction in flexibility in joints. Therefore, the longer you delay your first surgery, the harder it is for you to undergo a revision surgery in future.

One common consensus of many patients arrived at the conclusion: most wish they had performed hip replacement surgery earlier instead of waiting for even a few months. Hip replacement surgery had allowed them to return to pre-injury activity level and provide a better quality of life to them and their loved ones. Deciding on when is the best time to undergo surgery depends on you and your immediate concerns. You need to fully understand the surgery risks and weigh them against whatever concerns you have at the moment before arriving at the best solution yourself.

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