Joint replacement with allergies.

[grannypip]

I apologise in advance for how long this post may become but I would value your views on this as I'm quite worried now. Over the past few years I have had both knees replaced due to extreme pain caused by having no cartilage left in them and bone rubbing bone. Before having the first one done I explained to the surgeon that I was concerned about knee replacement because I am allergic to some metals though not entirely sure which ones except for nickel and possibly titanium( I once had titanium specs which caused a rash down the sides of my face.) He assured me that this wasn't a problem as allergies do not affect deep tissue like they do the surface of your skin. I trusted him and went ahead with both knees. Now a couple of weeks ago my sister in law who also has a metal allergy and is 81yrs old( but you'd never guess) had a nasty fall and smashed her shoulder. She told every doctor she saw for two weeks from day one that she had a metal allergy but they didn't seem to be bothered. The day before her planned shoulder replacement op her surgeon came to discuss it with her and cancelled the op when he heard about the allergy, for skin tests to be done. It will now be another two weeks before they decide if she will have the op and it may be that they do nothing and leave her with a smashed shoulder and useless arm because of her allergy. I told her surgeon what mine had told me and he disagreed. As you can imagine I'm now very worried for both of us. Which surgeon is right? I also thought I'd heard somewhere that there were alternatives to metal joint replacements eg: ceramic or would they consider that too costly because of her age? Also if my implants were a problem would it show up on x Ray? There are so many questions whizzing round my head. Help!!!!

[Rosepetal60]

On the Pain concern community on this site, you will find a very recent posting on this topic. With mixed replies. Looks like the metal titanium can be removed if causing problems and allergy testing can be done. Think the posting is called Metal allergies. Try the search box if you can't find it straight away.

[Rosepetal60 in reply to Rosepetal60]

The ""metal allergy" posting on pain concern community was posted 1 day ago

[grannypip in reply to Rosepetal60]

Thank you for your reply. I will take a look.

[Normadee]

I cannot help with your problem as I have never had a replacement.as your sister asked if there are alternatives to metal, plastic may not be strong enough. Her GP should be able to answer all her questions and put her mind at rest. Good luck