Hip length discrepancy

Afternoon zibbett.  Sorry to hear your having this problem.   I can't see how disrupting your good hip to fix that could b an option!!  Is it possible that your new hip still needs to settle in?  I know most people on this forum have said that.   Have you thought of maybe wearing a insert in your shoe to help with discrepancy?  Honestly i would not want anyone doing something to my good hip.  "If it ain't broke don't fix it!"   I would discuss options with your doc before you have another surgery.   Did you have a discrepancy before your hip surgery?   I know back problems can occur after hip replacement especially if you already had problems with back and discrepancy.  I was an inch and a half short before surgery.  I've always been short and always leaned to right.  And had a limp.  As time went on it got worse.   Dr gave me back my length but I feel like I'm still limping and I'm still leaning to right.  It's like a habit I can't break.  The cane keeps me straight.  I have back pain but have had back problems for awhile now.  Thought new hip would take care of this but it didn't.   I've had MRI on back recently and have a few problems.   I hope you find a solution  because I really don't think another surgery should be your only option.   Best of luck to you and God's blessings to you for a speedy recovery and healing.  Hugs 🤗 Linda. 

I wouldn't do anything just yet. Your second hip has not had time to settle.

Wow! It is way too soon to even worry about this. There is a lot of internal swelling in your new leg making it appear longer. This is a very common scenario. I too had one leg longer. My doctor said he here's this all the time after surgery but by between 3 and 5 months the difference is usually gone or diminished. I had a ½" difference, it is now down to ¼" but I am at 4 months, it could still diminish more. In the meantime, I bought some ¼" inexpensive lifts at Amazon so I feel as if I am walking even. You have had bad hips both done, do you also have bad knees or one bad knee? Any loss of cartilage in an arthritic knee or hip can change your leg length. If you have surgery on a good hip to even it out and later have knee replacement you could be uneven again. I would wait 6 months after your last surgery and have x-rays done of your knees too. If your knee cartilage shows good or at least even, then after 6 or 7 months if you still have a leg difference, that is the time to consider surgery, although wearing lifts is no big deal, very easy to do. Surgeons usually measure across the pelvis to be sure there is no pelvic tilt. Has your surgeon done this? He can do it on x-rays. If there is a pelvic tilt, yes that should be corrected, because it will cause back problems. That does not usually happen with the measurement equipment they use during surgery, but if it did happen it should be corrected. They do not actually measure your legs, just the measurement across the tip of the new hip across the pelvis. They do it by X-ray. That your pelvis sits evenly is important. The leg issue itself usually goes away with healing or can be compensated for. I hope my explanation makes sense to you. Good luck, I would not want surgery on my good hip either!

Hi I have an 1/2 inch difference and manage perfectly OK with a shoe lift, your difference is very small and its possible that discrepancy will settle down in time, don't rush to have another op, if your in so much pain its not because of the leg length difference its something else, so ask for xray etc first

Sorry but I'm unclear. Do I understand that you have had both hips replaced but as one is 5mm longer the surgeon wants to do a revision? If that's the case it is really stupid unless there is a far better reason!

Cheers

Richard

I am in the same boat as you, leg length difference after surgery, but with investigation, long leg x-ray, (from your waist to the floor), they identified 10mm below my knee that I was not even aware of, I had grown with it my entire life, and 12mm added during surgery.

Here is australia 10mm is what they consider allowable discrepany, you are warned about it in your consent forms, so i am at 12mm due to surgery, but of course the surgeon does not want to know, will not even see me.

I started wearing a shoe lift, available at the local chemist shop, and not toooo expensive under my shorter leg, as I was not coping with the difference at all, and that shoe lift became my life saver.

2 years out I have still wear the shoe lift but don't need it as much, my long leg knee as given out with arthiritis as well, so have had some extra relief due to lack of cartledge space in knee joint, local GP, tells me the extra stresses would have contributed the the knee giving out earlier than expected.

Have seen a different surgeon privately, a very senior recommended by nurses in the hospital, where my first surgery was done, and he was shocked that the first surgeon appears to have missed my natural leg length difference, and then added to it. but even he said redoing the surgery, he was doubtful I would have a good result, and at 65, I may need a replacement hip at about 85, he was interested in my aunts and uncles and parents and how long they had lived, lots of 90 yr olds, he nodded and said put yourself down for another surgery in your eighties, and we will get it corrected then, which I wasn't very happy with, but he made sense about revisions the more you have the more bone you lose, until we can no longer help you.