Hip Resurfacing: A Fair and Balanced Review

This review of hip resurfacing surgery covers three generations of design progress. The first, spanning from the 1920s to the 1940s, represents early attempts at resurfacing the femoral head as a “mold arthroplasty.” The second generation (1950s to the 1980s) represents the introduction of an acetabular component. The third generation (1990s to present) represents a worldwide resurgence of this technology into the hands of joint replacement surgeons. The clinical results and modes of failures in each of these technologies is discussed to provide surgeons a basis for educated decisions on technologies and patient selection for optimizing long-term success.