South Florida doctor popularizes "bikini" approach to hip replacement surgery
MIAMI - Sun, sand, and swimsuits - all common sights in South Florida.
But with an aging population, we also see our share of hip replacement surgeries. One local doctor has taken a cue from plastic surgeons, giving patients new hips without giving them a scar that's impossible to hide.
That was important to Jane Reilly. At 75 years old, she is still very physically active.
"I exercise every morning and swim every day, and a few times a week I go paddle boarding," she said.
But after a recent trip to Easter Island in Chile, filled with hiking and climbing, her right hip was in a lot of pain.
"I knew something was wrong there and I saw the quarry and I said, 'Well, I might as well really wear it out if I'm going to get hip surgery, I might as well climb the quarry'," said Reilly. "But by the time I hit that quarry, I knew it was just bone on bone."
When she got home, she made an appointment with Dr. Charles Lawrie at Baptist Health's Orthopedic Care. Dr. Lawrie is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hip replacement.
"It's become actually considered one of the best procedures we do in modern medicine in terms of the reliable relief of pain, reliable restoration of function, relatively quick recovery," Dr. Lawrie said.
For years, the surgery has left a three to eight-inch vertical scar on the patient's upper thighs. But Dr. Lawrie is known for his "bikini approach," meaning patients can hide their incision scars right under their bathing suits. It's a technique plastic surgeons have mastered, cutting along skin lines that run parallel to underlying muscle fibers.
"Two main benefits of that new approach that we've been using has been it's more reliable and faster healing of the incision because it goes along Langer's lines and then an increase in patient satisfaction because the incision and the scar eventually is far more easy for them to hide under even a swimsuit," Dr. Lawrie said.
His technique was a welcome surprise to Reilly.
"I was surprised with the recovery. When I went to the physical therapy at Baptist outpatient therapy, they looked at it and they said, 'Oh, this is fine. Dr. Lawrie did it, didn't he?' And I said, 'How did you know, did the man put his initials on my scar?'," she said.
Not quite, but that "bikini line" incision has become his signature surgical style and one that's likely to be popular here on the beaches of South Florida.
"He didn't write his initials, but he did make the horizontal scar and, I'm very, very happy with it," said Reilly.