What are the disadvantages of hip resurfacing?
The primary disadvantage is that hip resurfacing is a relatively new technology compared to hip replacement, and therefore has not generated clinical data beyond ten years. Still, many changes to traditional hip replacement devices have been introduced recently in order to address certain shortcomings. These also have a limited amount of clinical follow-up. The mid-term success has been extremely encouraging. The BIRMINGHAM HIP has been more closely studied and more widely implanted over more years than any other resurfacing implant system. The operation for hip resurfacing is similar to a traditional hip replacement, but not identical. Because hip resurfacing surgery conserves, rather than removes, the femoral head (thighbone), it may be considered a bone conserving procedure compared to traditional hip replacement surgery. At the same time, hip resurfacing surgery is, in some ways, a more demanding surgical technique for the surgeon. While the metal on metal implant used in the BIRMI
