Hip new step in life

“My legs are the same length,” Elvira Nuqui gushed as she looked down at her pink-slippered feet. The Philippines-based pharmacy student’s smile broadened as she walked around a room at Mulund’s Wockhardt Hospital using crutches.

“My legs are the same length,” Elvira Nuqui gushed as she looked down at her pink-slippered feet. The Philippines-based pharmacy student’s smile broadened as she walked around a room at Mulund’s Wockhardt Hospital using crutches.

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The 29-year-old woman’s right leg used to be four inches shorter than her left as she had congenital dysplacia (a part of her hip joint was missing since birth). She could walk with a cane but had a major limp.

But that changed after doctors at the hospital implanted a ceramic ball and metal stem into her hip joint during a complicated surgery (see graphic) on November 30. The surgery was more challenging than regular hip replacements as Nuqui had undergone two hip replacement surgeries in Philippines eight years ago.

“Both surgeries had failed as the implants had dislocated shortly after. A lot of bone was lost and her nerves were damaged in the process,” said orthopaedic surgeon Dr Kaushal Malhan, who conducted the latest surgery.

Apart from implanting the artificial hip joint, Dr Malhan reconstructed Nuqui’s hip socket, which was undeveloped since birth and lengthened her leg. “Her right leg was shorter for almost three decades. We had to be extremely cautious so that her nerves were not overstretched,” he said. The doctor also put a snooker ball-sized ceramic implant (3.6 cm in diameter) in her hip joint instead of the regular 2.8cm one, enabling her to sit on the floor and dine in typical southeast Asian style. Nuqui will be able to walk without support within three months.

The implants cost Rs 1.6 lakh but Nuqui's family is glad they came to Mumbai for the surgery. “She was very depressed after the failed surgeries and did not leave her house for three years. We read about revision hip replacement at Wockhardt online and decided to give it one last shot,” said her fiancé Butch.

Nuqui can’t wait to get back home in the Pampanga province of Philippines. She plans to pursue a course in plastic surgery and go dancing with Butch in her spare time. “I just wanted to be normal like everyone else. Now, I will be soon,” she said.