So, what exactly is a surgical hip dislocation?

I reread all of my blog today (narcissitic and boring, I know!) and I realized there is really nothing in here that explains SDD in detail. I'll do my best now so that anyone who may be needing this surgery knows what to expect, or, if you just have a morbid sense of curiosity, then hey, each to her own:)

Surgical hip dislocation and debridement(SDD) with femoral osteochondroplasty and greater trochanter flip osteotomy is what my procedure was called.
I have femoral acetabular impingement with acetabular dysplasia of my right hip. This surgery addresses the impingement only.

I was given a general anesthesia (just what my surgeon prefers, but I would recommend a spinal! It's what I'll do for my LPAO) and once asleep, a foley catheter was placed. Then I was rolled onto my non-operative side and had blankets stacked between my legs for the operative leg to rest on. The surgeon makes a cut on the lateral thigh (and it's looooong, usually about 10-11 inches) from the top of the buttock to the upper- middle of your thigh. Once that's done, he retracts the muscles and makes his osteotomy cut of the trocanter (with the major muscles still attached to it so that healing is easier and faster) and places it anterior to the hip joint. This is when the surgeon flexes and externally/internally rotates the hip to visualize the impingement. On to the hip capsule. The capsule is accessed by a Z-capsulotomy (cutting open of the joint itself). Then the surgeon uses retractors to pull the femur out of the acetabulum. While he can see inside the socket, he cleans up the damaged areas or tacks the labrum back on with absorbable anchors (my case was debridement, not repair with anchors). The articular cartilage is assessed for any damage and then when satisfactory, he places a wet sponge in the socket. Then the head of the femur is addressed. It is measured with a sizer and extra bone that impinges the joint is removed and the joint is reshaped by a burr and chisel (this is the femoral osteochondroplasty). Once the surgeon is happy with the new shape of the femur he places it back in the socket and does the flexion/external/internal rotation again to make sure there is no more impingement. If all is well, then the surgeon will place a drain close to the hip to collect extra blood and drainage during the hospital stay. He will then begin closure of the hip capsule and pin the trocanter back onto the femur (usually 2 screws). These screws will be permanant unless there is ever a need for an MRI or other surgery. Then the muscle closure/tendon closure begins and the fascia (layer between muscles and skin) is sutured with disolvable stitches. Finally the skin is closed and fortunately for me my surgeon uses glue so it's a nice plastic surgery closure.

Once the dressing was placed I was rolled onto my back, woken from anesthesia and taken to recovery. That's it in a nutshell for the surgery! For pain control, I was given a patient controlled analgesia (PCA) pump that also had a continuos drip in it. This was all the pain meds I needed while on IV meds.

The CPM was started as soon as I was placed in my in-patient room and I had to wear TED compression stockings to prevent blood clots. Also had the sequential compression device (SCD) on my calves which also prevent blood clots.
PT did not begin until the following day and no walker is allowed (apparently my surgeon does not believe in walkers, for PAO's either). So up I went on crutches first thing. The only expectation was to get up and walk to the bathroom and the hallway 4 times that day. Then I just rested and used the CPM. The next day PT showed me how to do stairs, expected me to walk a little farther and showed me my exercises for home. This is also when I was given OT (learned how to dress, shower, sit on toilet, etc, properly). The rest was all up to me after that!