Question
Dear Sharon,

Our daughter is 13.  She has had both hips reconstructed.  The right hip never got better, it only got worse.  After removing the hardware a year later they found that there had been an a vascular interruption causing osteonecrosis.  She has end stage cartilage damage, advanced arthritis, and femoral head collapse.  She has debilitating pain. She has severe atrophy in her legs and vascular congestion.  She developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy in her right leg because of the first surgery.  She has missed two years of school.  We need a hip replacement now!  We're having trouble finding a surgeon willing to do it.  They all want her to be done in a pediatric facility but, it's an adult procedure.  She goes to Boston Children's Hospital but they don't do hip replacements.  We need help finding pediatric surgeons who do hip replacements.  And any advice about a pediatric hip replacement.  We want her to be able to be a kid again.  She has missed junior high entirely and may not be able to go to high school.

Thank you,
Valerie

Answer
Hi Valerie

I am so terribly sorry for what your daughter is going through.  
When I had my surgery at 14, there were not any pediatric surgeons who did this type of surgery, so I had a general orthopedist.

I would look at The Hospital of Special Surgery in NYC if you can swing that trip.  Dr. Douglas Padgett is tops in the field.  The other place you can look at, which is where I have gone in the past is the Anderson Clinic in Arlington VA and the doctor you need to speak to is Charles Engh. The center in Arlington actually can construct prostheses for special cases and that might be your best bet.  check out both places if you can.

You need to see that she gets this surgery so she can live a normal life.  At her age, she can never get this time back again, and I urge you to look at those two places.

Sharon