This site is created by Vicky Marlow, a Patient Advocate who has helped and communicated with thousands of patients regarding hip surgery. She has met many of the top Orthopedic surgeons from around the world and attends numerous Orthopedic medical conferences. Vicky started her first websites hipresurfacingsite.com and surfacehippyinfo.com back in 2007. She has had both of her hips resurfaced (her left in 2005 and her right in 2010). Once you have had a hip resurfacing procedure, you are known as a "surface hippy."

Vicky is now in the process of expanding and creating other websites to include other procedures besides hip resurfacing. These include hip replacement (THR) and hip arthroscopy. Unfortunately, many orthopedic surgeons still do not tell patients about ALL of the options that are available. This site will enable patients to get unbiased opinions from surgeons that perform both hip resurfacings and THR's, and for those patients that have a lot of cartilage left, these doctors will refer them to surgeons that do hip arthroscopies.

The doctors listed on this site were added based on recommendations from patients who have had successful procedures. Additionally, prominent and highly experienced surgeons in Total Hip Replacement, Hip Resurfacing and Hip Arthroscopy were added based on the number of successful procedures they have completed. As with any specialty, those Orthopedic surgeons that stay up to date on the latest technology and procedures, are the ones that have their patient’s best interests at heart. Procedures like Hip Resurfacing, which is approaching 20 years of success in the U.K., is a proven technology, even though the FDA did not approve the first device for use in the U.S. until May of 2006. The excerpt below is from Vicky's main website hipresurfacingsite.com.

Facilitating Patient to Doctor Communication

Let’s face it, surface hippies are among the most demanding and well informed patients ever in the history of modern health care. We talk to other patients, we do our research, and many of us will even go half way around the world, if necessary, to get the best possible care. Not only that, we are a global community of patients working hand-in-hand with top international orthopedic surgeons to raise the standards of the field and ensure the long-term success of resurfacing.

In 2007, Vicky began receiving invitations to international orthopedic conferences. Vicky shares her notes from these conferences under Ask Vicky, Ortho Conferences.

Vicky with Mr. Derek McMinn (Inventor of the BHR device) at AAOS 2008

This also provides her with an opportunity to personally interview many of the doctors, which you can find under Doctors, Doctor Interviews and Video Interviews. Vicky is in contact with many prominent surgeons worldwide and hears directly from the experts on what is working and what needs improving in the resurfacing field.

To further her education, she observed a dozen different surgeons perform hip resurfacing on cadavers while other orthopedic surgeons watched to learn the various techniques. She has also attended two orthopedic conferences that showed live video feeds of surgeries being performed as a teaching tool for the surgeons present.

Although Vicky is not medically trained and does not claim to be an expert, she is a member of the growing informed patient community.

Informing Patients to Ensure the Long-Term Success of Resurfacing

How does all of this translate into real-life terms for you as a patient? It means that as patients, we have the potential to be so well informed that we can seek out the best surgeons for our procedures. Any surgeons lacking in skill and training will feel compelled to keep up with the latest techniques in the field. For example, after patients began asking prospective surgeons if they used the neck capsule preservation technique, which ensures proper blood-flow to the neck capsule and reduces the risk of fracture, many surgeons started using that technique.

The reason why all of this is so important is because resurfacing is a very difficult procedure, which can have tragic results if not performed by the most skilled and well trained surgeons. Right now the newspaper articles say that the ideal candidate for resurfacing is a male under 55 years old. This statement is misleading in that less skilled surgeons were included in the overall assessment. The reality is that your odds for a successful procedure are greatly enhanced by using an experienced surgeon rather than a mediocre one.

Surface Hippy Hip Resurfacing Site Is All About PAY IT FORWARD *

Living with a degenerating hip is a painful and debilitating experience. Often we find that the only ones who really know what we are going through are those who have gone through it themselves. Thousands of hip patients worldwide are being supported in their journeys to surgery and in their recoveries by fellow surface hippies.

Photo of Jay Gangi with Vicky Marlow at the July 2008 Surface Hippy Gathering

Hip resurfacing surgery is truly a phenomenal breakthrough. Patients who have had the surgery can’t wait to tell the world about it. Fortunately that is a very good thing since most surgeons will not even tell patients this procedure exists. I found out about it after going to several orthopedic surgeons that told me I needed a THR and never even mentioned resurfacing. Luckily I stumbled on Jay Gangi's ad on craigslist for items for sale that you will need after hip surgery. He "paid it forward" to me and I continue to "pay it forward" to others.

The Official Surface Hippy site is the Yahoo! message board founded by Keith in 2000. He started Surface Hippy back when resurfacing was practically unheard of. He initially created that space so a handful of courageous people who elected to undergo a new type of surgery could share their information and experiences.

Little did he know what kind of contribution he was making to the lives of so many people around the world. This website is an extension of that message board and we now have our own support group and message board:

HipResurfacingSite/Surface Hippy Poll/Survey Group and Messsage board

Many patients find inspiration in reading the experiences of others that have taken the journey before them, whether they are professional athletes who want to return to competitive sports, or full-time moms who wish to play with their children and shop at the grocery store pain-free.

If you would like to "pay it forward" by submitting an article or your story, Please Contact Debbie .

* The expression PAY IT FORWARD is used to describe the concept in which a creditor offers the debtor the option of "paying" the debt forward by paying it to a third party instead of paying it back to the original creditor. Payments can be monetary or by good deeds.

About Vicky Marlow

I am a proud mother of two grown kids. My son Eric, and my beautiful daughter Carisa (who has three children of her own making me a grandmother of two little girls and a little boy). All of my surface hippy activities are done as a Volunteer Patient Advocate. I have devoted all of my spare time to the Hip Resurfacing cause and have helped thousands of patients.