Major surgery is not a bothersome injury

Closing the layers

It might help you relax and be patient if you understand a bit of the process the surgeon has gone through to close you up once your new hip is in place. Surgeons call it 'closing in layers' - picture this:

1. Your first 4 layers are closed with heavy-duty dis-solvable stitches, these are:
   
   1. the hip joint capsule
   2. the deep layers of muscles
   3. the shallower muscle sheets
   4. the strong shell over the muscles called the tensor fascia lata
2. Then the surgeon picks up thinner dissolvable stitches to close:
   1. your fat layer
   2. a thin layer between the fat and the skin called the subcuticular
3. Then comes the staple gun to finish up or you might get away with steristrips to close your skin.

So yes, there is a lot of healing going on in the first months and there are no short cuts (if you’ll excuse the expression).

GETTING ON WITH IT

Resting when you’re tired is important but you won’t be tired all the time and there are exercises you can do immediately after surgery that will help. We'll look at some of these in the next post.