Developmental desplasia of the Hip

[Unclehan]

My 5-year old niece in China was diagnosed with DDH since she was about 1 year old. She was wearing Pavlik harness for a year before the doctors got her off the harness. Everybody thinks that she has been cured because she moves freely and has been very active. Recently, an X-ray showed that her femoral head was about 25% larger than that of normal children. The doctors that treated her for DDH said that the location of her hip was normal. But some other doctors said the enlarged femoral head could slip out of the socket, thus causing hip dislocation. These doctors strongly suggest surgery, which worries my family very much. The child is still very active and shows no signs of pain or discomfort during movement. Her hip never dislocated. My question is that is a larger-than-normal femoral head a risk factor for hip dislocation? What's the risks of hip surgery, and what's the consequence of not doing the surgery?
Thanks for your help!

[sufyanent]

hi my 1and half years boy was diagnosed as  bilateral ddh since birth and was on double napkin for 4 months then was put on pavlik since he was 6months till now, what happened is that his x ray revealed mild sublaxation we went to 2 doctors one said he needs operation the other said no need for surgery and he should be kept on pavlik for another year, what should i do?

[abhijeet v ghosh]

hi uncle han,
larger femoral head are much stable than small femoral head. So i would suggest you is to stay away from the surgery opinion.

regards