Getting hip replacement surgery can be a frightening prospect, I mean, they are taking out one of the most important joints in your body! As scary as hip replacement surgery is each year as many as 500,000 people in the U.S. have to go through this procedure. One of the most common types of procedures is a metal on metal replacement.
As it turns out metal on metal hip replacements are a huge problem and the manufacturers, and in many cases surgeons, have know about this for years and have done nothing. One of the main culprits has been the DePuy Orthopaedics division of Johnson & Johnson. In 2010 an internal report found that "Johnson & Johnson’s orthopedic unit had used inadequate or incorrect standards in trying to assess some of those risks before first selling the implant in 2003."
Metal on Metal replacements have become such a problem that in January of this year the FDA released a list of symptoms to look for and guidelines on what patients who have had this procedure should do. The symptoms include:
- Hip/groin pain
- Local swelling numbness
- Changes in your ability to walk.
- General hypersensitivity reaction (skin rash)
- Neurological changes including sensory changes (auditory, or visual impairments)
- Psychological status change (including depression or cognitive impairment)
- Renal function impairment
- Thyroid dysfunction (including neck discomfort, fatigue, weight gain or feeling cold)
The health risks associated with metal on metal implants arise because "tiny fragments of metal can shear off from these joints, causing chronic pain or infection and raising levels of metals in the bloodstream."
Not only is this too bad for the hundreds of thousands of people who have had this happen to them but it obviously doesn't do a thing to help corporate America out in the eyes of the public. The bottom line? If you have had a metal on metal procedure go talk to your surgeon.
