Can I Get 6cm Hip Implants?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I am a 40 year old transgender woman and I wish to have hip implant surgery. My plastic surgeon here  tells me that he has never done hip implant surgery and advises me to come to you who has experience in this field. All the more reason for the risk of complications that he wouldn’t know how to best manage.

I’ve attached pictures of my body so you can see the disparity in my hip-to-shoulder ratio. For me it is not easy to come all the way to America to have this surgery and for this reason I speak to you very clearly and exhaustively in order to make the most weighted decision possible. 

I want a hip implant that has AT LEAST 6 cm of outward projection. I’m not interested in seeing the edges of the prosthesis (and therefore that it is known that it is an implant) and I’m not even interested in the vertical and horizontal size of the prosthesis. The really important thing for me is that the prosthesis has 6 cm of projection.

A: You can not have hip implants that have 6cm projection as that is a complication just waiting to happen. Your hips tissues are too thin to support anything but the thinnest of hip implants. What you are desiring can not be safely achieved.

Hip implants have a fairly high rate of complications due to the more superficial tissue location in which they have to be placed so patients have to be selected very carefully to try and lower those risks. There are two major risk factors, 1) thin patients with little subcutaneous fat (inadequate soft tissue cover) and 2) implants that are too big. (too thick for the tissues to adequately support them) Both of these hip implant considerations are judgment issues with no absolutes.

Dr. Barry Eppley

World-Renowned Plastic Surgeon