The 3 Best Hip Replacement Surgeons In Clearwater, Florida

There are dozens of doctors who perform hip replacement in Clearwater. Who is the best one for you?

Finding the right hip replacement surgeon to perform the procedure is crucial. Fortunately, Clearwater residents have access to three skilled and experienced orthopedic surgeons who meet the Best Practice Health criteria for certification for total hip replacement. In this article we will review the qualities you need to look for, as well as the top surgeons specializing in hip replacements near you. At the end, you will have all the information you need to choose the right one for you.

When it comes to selecting the best hip replacement surgeon in Clearwater, there are several important factors to consider. Firstly, experience is key. Total Hip Replacement is major surgery and practice makes perfect.

Hip replacement surgery has a number of possible complications including infection, instability, loosening, mechanical implant failure, fracture, persistent pain, leg length discrepancy and, in the wrong hands, even death. These risks are why it’s important to find an experienced, higher volume surgeon.

Surgeons who do a larger number of hip replacements have half the complications. A word to the wise… most of us feel we can trust our doctors; but 93% of hip replacement surgeons do not qualify as high volume.

Training

Experience is crucial to success, but it’s not everything. You also want a hip surgeon who has the right training. As a bare minimum, select an orthopedic surgeon who is board-certified and specializes in hip replacements. Board certification ensures that the surgeon has received the necessary education and training in their field. But not even board certification is enough.

The 3 surgeons we identified as the best in the Clearwater area have all completed a fellowship in joint replacement surgery. That is an additional year of training after orthopedic residency focused entirely on hip and knee replacement. While there is no experimental evidence that fellowship training helps, do you want a surgeon with more specialized training, or less?

Find the Right Clearwater Facility for You

So far, we have emphasized the surgeons; however, hip joint replacement surgery requires a quality team and facility behind the surgeon.

There are two hospitals for hip replacement in Clearwater. Morton Plant Hospital does a lot of cases, but it gets 4/5 stars from patients and has an average number of reported joint replacement complications. Mease Dunedin get five starts, but they do not do many joint replacements, and the ones they do have an average number of complications.

Source: Find Healthcare Providers: Compare Care Near You | Medicare.

The best place to have a total hip replacement these days in not in a hospital, anyway, but rather an ambulatory surgery center. The Tampa Bay Ambulatory Surgery Center in Clearwater does hip replacement. Unfortunately, the site does not report having a robot.

Robotic Assisted Surgery

We talked about the surgeon, the team, and the facility. But you can’t forget about the surgery itself. Modern best practice for a total hip replacement surgery calls for robotic assistance.

Robotic assisted hip replacement surgery gained popularity in recent years because it is more accurate, reduces the risk of dislocation, and the computer helps your surgeon select the perfect implants to maximize your range of motion. Orthopedic surgeons who perform robotic surgery have access to real-time imaging and precise measurements, allowing for more accurate placement of the implant. Robotic surgery results in reduced complications, quicker recovery time for patients and, it’s too soon to tell, but hopefully better long-term outcomes.

Proven Implants

Before we give you the list of your 3 top choices in Clearwater, there are two more thing to consider. The first is the implant. Can you imagine opening your mailbox one day and receiving a recall letter not for your car, but for your total hip? It happens.

That’s why you want your joint replacement to have an implant that has a proven track record of success; one that is determined by surgical registry data to have a low rate of complications. After all, the risk of hip your new hip needing to be replaced over 20 years is less than 9 percent, and you deserve the best.
The American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR) is an annual report released by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons that reviews data for all joint implants, including hip implants.

Minimally Invasive Surgery

The last thing to consider before choosing your orthopedic surgeon is their approach. Legacy orthopedic surgeons operate from the back, called the posterior approach. While that surgery is easier to perform for the surgeon, it sacrifices muscle tissue that leads to a longer recovery, more pain, and permanent weakness of the hip joint. Today the best surgeons use a minimally invasive approach. There are three minimally invasive approaches. The anterior approach involves an incision in the front of your thigh. The lateral (side) approaches are the direct superior and superPATH.

The good news is that we have identified 3 orthopedic surgeons here in Clearwater who meet all of these requirements. Drs. Gerald Alexander, Christopher Grayson, and David Whiddon are all Best Practice Certified to perform total hip replacement in Clearwater.

Best Practice’s Clearwater Top Three Hip Replacement Surgeons:

Dr. Gerald Alexander III (Florida Medical Orthopaedics) – 16 years experience, fellowship trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeon with special interest in robot-assisted hip and knee replacement.

Dr. Christorpher Grayson (Florida Orthopaedic Institute) – 14 years experience, fellowship trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeon who focuses on anterior hip replacement, partial knee replacements. Specializes in same-day total joint replacement surgery.

Dr. David Whiddon – 25 years experience, fellowship trained, board-certified orthopedic surgeon focused on minimally invasive treatment of hip and knee replacement and revision.