For the Women Who Were Told Metal-on-Metal Hip Implants Were a Good Idea

We’re spreading the word about women’s health & pharmaceuticals in honor of Women’s Health Week.

If you didn’t know already, women keep this world running. The only catch: women suffer some of the worst injustices —like a pharmaceutical world that neglects to perform clinical testing equally in both men and women. It’s called “Disproportionate Harm,” as in: Women suffer more unnecessary health complications than men due to pharmaceutical negligence.

Take, for example, the “revolutionary, recovery time-saving" metal-on-metal hip implants that ended up eroding or even causing metal poisoning in some unsuspecting women.

This is “her” story.

Hip implants are such a common term now given that hip implants have been used since as early as 1925, when an American surgeon developed a hip implant made out of glass.

We know they are supposed to replace the hip joint, either partially or fully, and that they are a common implant to relieve arthritis-related pain in the hip or to help repair or replace the hip after injury or disease.

We’ve all got the basics of hip implants down; hip implants and replacements are that common.

But what we could still use more of a primer on is the risks associated with hip implants, particularly with the hip implant commonly used in the United States, the metal-on-metal hip implant.

Individuals who were implanted with metal-on-metal hip implants were often told that the all-metal implant was a welcome alternative to previous version of hip implants which were typically made of a combination of plastics and ceramics. These metal-on-metal hip implants were supposed to involve a drastic reduction in recovery time, and were supposed to completely relieve the associated pain and make the patient’s life far better and more mobile.

If you’ve been following along this women’s health week, you might  not be surprised to learn that hip implant failure may be more common in women than in men.  Women are different and have different needs and these may not be met with today’s clinical studies or medical implant review processes. That’s a startling worry on its own. But, there’s more.

The popular metal-on-metal hip implant has a shocking associated risk of severe complications like metal poisoning, damage to the thyroid gland or nervous system, loss of mobility and even spontaneous dislocation.

The women who suffered at the hands of metal-on-metal hip implants deserved better. To help ensure that not one more women goes into metal-on-metal hip implant surgery without first knowing all of the associated risks, please share this information with your network.