Seeing clearly again is wonderful, so why wait for your cataract treatment? Take your first step to clearer vision with our private cataract removal surgery and the chance to correct your eyesight at the same time with a choice of advanced lens replacements.
Consultant Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Matthew Oliver, talks about hip pain and the treatments we offer at Benenden Hospital (5 videos)
Total hip replacement surgery is a successful operation to cure degenerative disorders of the human hip joints such as osteoarthritis or traumatic events that have worn the joint out earlier than expected. It requires an operation and an inpatient stay in hospital.
Essentially the human ball and socket joint is replaced for artificial ones that gets rid of the pain and gets the patient ambulating and having a better quality of life in the long run.
Hip replacements are made of a variety of materials. They include ceramics for the femoral head. The femoral head can also be made out of metal, usually cobalt and chrome. The stem is made out of cobalt and chrome or, if it's an uncemented stem, it's usually made out of titanium. The socket is usually uncemented and is made out of titanium.
The implants that are pressed fit into the bone are coated in a material called hydroxyapatite, that your own bone recognizes and grows into the stem. The liner is usually made out of a plastic material or polyethylene.
Total hip replacement surgery is considered major surgery. However, it shouldn't be looked upon with fear. It's an operation that brings benefit to a patient's life.
It can be considered like having a tyre change. Essentially, your ball and socket joint is worn out and the operation is designed to replace that with a brand new ball and socket, which reduces pain and brings back your quality of life.
The longevity of a total hip replacement is determined by several factors. But on average with modern orthopaedic kit, I expect a total hip replacement to last at least 20 years, everything being equal.
Hip and knee replacements can be done on the same side. There's not a problem at all with that. The usual path is to have the hip replaced first and then followed by the knee. But in some instances, the knee wears out before the hip. Either way you can have a hip and knee replacement on the same leg.
Hip replacement surgery takes approximately one to one and a half hours. However, it can be different depending on the circumstances. Some surgeries take longer, some take slightly less time.
It depends on the surgical technique and different parts of the technique, especially if you're using bone cement, which is used to fix the femoral stem into the top of the thigh bone. You have to wait for some time for the cement to set.
The usual event though away from the ward and then back to the ward is somewhere between one and a half to two and a half hours.
A total hip replacement isn't a pain free procedure, but with the modern anaesthetic techniques and the enhanced recovery protocol this hospital uses, the patient's journey from start to finish is a reasonably smooth one.
During the operation, you’ll usually have a spinal anaesthetic with sedation. And then in the recovery suite, quite a few hip replacement patients receive a nerve block in the leg to keep the leg more comfortable for several hours post-operatively as the pain gradually kicks. In the ward, nurses provide you with strong analgesia as required over time. The pain settles quite rapidly.
Certainly, the first couple of weeks are hard and it feels like a deep bruise that's settling. The arthritic pain, however, from the hip that you had before goes almost instantly overnight and a lot of patients get a lot of joy from that.
Here at Benenden Hospital, more and more of our patients are taking advantage of finance through our trusted partner, Chrysalis.
With these options, you can spread the cost of your treatment, fitting it into your monthly budget rather than having to find the full cost at the time of your treatment.
A cataract is a very common condition which causes cloudiness in the lens of your eye and reduces your ability to see. Cataracts get worse over time and with age, so your vision progressively deteriorates.
