Does anyone have any experience of teenage hip dysplasia?

[ZippyTiptoes244]

Hi, we have a 14 year old daughter who had hip dysplasia as a baby and had several operations to rectify the joint being out of the socket, which meant 2-3 years in plaster and a hip spica. It was a tricky time, but we managed it.

She's been for yearly check ups since she was little and the consultant has always been really pleased with progress however, in September we went and he told us that the hip was starting to move out of the socket but that the other hip was also affected. This was quite a shock.

I can't believe it, and to be honest, I think we're in a bit of denial. My daughter is terrified of the idea of surgery. She had hip dysplasia as a child and literally the week she had her hip cast removed, we discovered she had epilepsy, so it's been a lot of her life as a little person in and out of hospital. I think she's inwardly resentful of this.

Anyway, the time has come that I really feel we need to do something about it. I think because she was so reticent to have anything done when we last saw the consultant, he just said that he'd monitor it and see how things went. She's in pain daily and finding it difficult even to walk the dogs with us. She's cried today and admitted she's in pain every day, a lot of the time.

I talked to her last weekend and asked her what she was worried about and she said that she was terrified of the anaesthetic and of being in hospital...both of which are entirely unavoidable.

We're a close, honest, open family and I really feel for her. I want for us to be able to support her in the best way we can. I don't want for her to be afraid.

She's really tall for 14, around 6ft and I don't know wether or not this may have contributed to this...maybe if it was going to happen, it was going to happen.

Does anyone else have any experience of hip dysplasia in teenage girls and can give any guidance about what to expect, procedure, recovery time etc?

Any information would be so gratefully received.

I can't say about teenagers but I was diagnosed at 28, had problems for years and it just wasn't spotted. I wish they had before I was unfit and overweight. Is it pao surgery they are suggesting? If it is I can tell you about recovery. Anesthesia is nothing to worry about, it's like falling asleep in front of the telly. You don't even realise until you wake up.

elf1985 thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear you were diagnosed so late.

We haven't talked in any great detail about surgery but I imagine it would be PAO. It's too far gone for preventative stuff.

Were both your hips affected it just the one? If you could share stuff about recovery, it wound be super helpful. I'm guessing they'd just do one at a time. It's just worrying because she starts her GCSEs next September.

Thanks for being helpful.

They would do one at a time so she can still move and do pt. Not gonna lie the recovery is awful, wheelchair for a day or 2 and then crutches, I was lucky enough that I had insurance so went private, they didn't let me out until I could get up and down stairs on crutches. Sleeping is a problem for a while. I only had paracetamol and ibuprofen when I left and that was enough for me. I have it in both hips but only symptomatic in 1. I would really recommend going on Facebook as there are loads of support groups, I think there may even be some teenager based ones too.

She may be scared and that's understandable but getting this sorted before lasting damage is done is critical. My cousin (late 40s) is now largely immobile and wheelchair bound after the 2 new hips she ended up having to get eventually failed. She can't have anything else done as apparently there's no solid bone left. This has changed the trajectory of her life and could have been avoided with earlier intervention