Shona,
I an amazed that the doctor has not suggested doing something now. The
earlier that something is done the easier. There is much that can be done
other than a wait and see and hope that nature fixes it. If at 7 months of
age your daughter's hip socket is not right then it most likely will not
happen on it own.The operation that would most likely be done at your
daughter's age now is called an open reduction. This is where the pediatric
orthopedic surgeon will have to cut open the hip capsule and remove any
fatty tissue that has collected in the socket area. Then the doctor will
place the femur into the proper place and apply a spica cast, with the legs
in a abducted position. If you wait until your daughter is walking then you
are looking at a much more invasive surgery, and that is a shame when there
is much that can be done now. Braces are sometimes used with great success,
or else the reduction surgery that I spoke about. My daughter did end up
having the operation you mentioned, it is called an osteotomy. But its more
than a controlled break, it involves cutting through the pelvis in two
places and inserting a piece of bone to move the acetabulum ( the socket
area) down and around to cover the head of the femur. But that was after we
tried the less invasive treatments first, and since each child is different
you don't know what will work and what will not. I hope that you will
consider getting another opinion somewhere. There is another site that I
belong to that explains the terms that I've mentioned, it may help you to
understand what the ped ortho is proposing.

Nancy[keeper of the www.hip-baby.org website, mom to Claudia, misdiagnosed
at 9 months, diagnosed at 16 months old with bilaterally dislocated hips and
DDH, 8 days traction, adductor tenotomy, closed reduction, AVN in left hip,
spica casts for 20 weeks, full-time abduction brace wearing for 1 year,
bilateral open reductions and pelvic osteotomies, spica casts for 7 weeks,
now going for once a year check-ups!]




----- Original Message -----
From: "Shona" <shona.nichols@...>
To: <clickyhipsclub@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 4:31 AM
Subject: [Clicky Hips Club] Update


> Hi Guys
>
> After we'd been told her hip looks normal in her last check, imagine
> our shock when we were told this week that she has mild Dysplasia
> (don't know whether that's correct as I copied it from surgeons
> notes) and there is a possibility she'll need an operation. He
> showed me an x-ray and the right hand side was curved and the left
> straight and at an angle, I think I was looking at the hip socket, I
> don't know and was too shocked to ask. He said it may sort itself
> but we need to watch her and when she starts walking, if she has a
> limp he'll have to perform a procedure beginning with an 'o', and
> it's an incision on her joint and they call it a controlled break.
> Do they mean they're going to break her hip socket? Does anyone
> know anything about this procedure and am I making any sense?
>
> Thanks
> Shona & Sophie (now 7 months)
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
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>