Failed Arthro Labrum Repair

[Aerial]

In September of 2007 I had arthro surgery to repair a severely torn labrum (also had capsular shift), a result of dislocating my shoulder while on the silks doing aerial acrobatics (circus stuff). After surgery I was told that when the doc got in there, the injury was much worse than the MRI had shown, and although, pre-surgery, he thought I'd be back up in the air in a year or so, after surgery he said my 'circus career' was over.
I was in a sling for 8 weeks, and in intense PT 3x a week for 9 months.
I did everything I was told to do, and nothing I was told not to do.
Due to continued weakness and worsening pain in my shoulder, an MRI was performed a few weeks ago that confirmed that despite the anchors in my shoulder, my superior and anterior labrum is torn, and I now have tendinitis and fluid in my coracoacromial ligament as well...basically, my surgery failed and I'm devastated.
I am now going surgeon to surgeon, ortho to ortho in an attempt to not have to go through surgery and all the 'healing' again.
However, this isn't looking good as what I'm hearing is my surgeon should have done my surgery open due to the extent of my original injury and that the fix now would have to be done open.
I am afraid of open surgery due to all the negatives I've read about it, but since I went the arthroscopic route already and had PT the past 9 months and am on anti-inflammatories and am still torn and in quite severe chronic pain, along with feeling very unstable, I'm thinking I'm going to have to go the open route.
Has anyone else experienced failed arthro surgery and then had open to fix it? Any information/advice is most appreciated.
Thanks!

[irul&ublo]

Not a doc, but have been involved in a lot of shoulder cases.


It is not unusual, I have been told, that the MRI will not reveal the true extent of the damage. It is also not unusual that the arthro repair will have to be followed up. Potential complications are greater in an open procedure than in ortho, so its best to take the less invasive route. Sorry it didn't take.

[Core Shot]

My wife researched all the options, could have gone closed, but chose open since since failure rate is very low even though recovery is longer.

If you want your circus career back, and you trust your new ortho, go for it.

[FredsTrees]

In September of 2007 I had arthro surgery to repair a severely torn labrum (also had capsular shift), a result of dislocating my shoulder while on the silks doing aerial acrobatics (circus stuff). After surgery I was told that when the doc got in there, the injury was much worse than the MRI had shown, and although, pre-surgery, he thought I'd be back up in the air in a year or so, after surgery he said my 'circus career' was over.
I was in a sling for 8 weeks, and in intense PT 3x a week for 9 months.
I did everything I was told to do, and nothing I was told not to do.
Due to continued weakness and worsening pain in my shoulder, an MRI was performed a few weeks ago that confirmed that despite the anchors in my shoulder, my superior and anterior labrum is torn, and I now have tendinitis and fluid in my coracoacromial ligament as well...basically, my surgery failed and I'm devastated.
I am now going surgeon to surgeon, ortho to ortho in an attempt to not have to go through surgery and all the 'healing' again.
However, this isn't looking good as what I'm hearing is my surgeon should have done my surgery open due to the extent of my original injury and that the fix now would have to be done open.
I am afraid of open surgery due to all the negatives I've read about it, but since I went the arthroscopic route already and had PT the past 9 months and am on anti-inflammatories and am still torn and in quite severe chronic pain, along with feeling very unstable, I'm thinking I'm going to have to go the open route.
Has anyone else experienced failed arthro surgery and then had open to fix it? Any information/advice is most appreciated.
Thanks!

i had a ortho in 1995, and after repeatedly dislocating my shoulder i waited as long as possible to have the second in sept 2006, this time open.

The results have been very good, although the recovery is lengthy, i can tell you that the open repair is much more effective and will relieve the pain and get you on the correct road.

Get a good surgeon and trust it......

[Sea 2 Ski]

I've had both open and ortho. I actually had open the first time and still had some problems with dislocations later so open isn't necessarily a 100% solution. However, I will say my doctor said to me after the open surgery failed that I was probably one of five people out of over a thousand that had to have additional surgery. It sucks to be the exception although at least I had the less painful procedure the second time around.

Honesty, I think almost as important as anything to get a shoulder working right is a really good physical therapist. If you don't strengthen the opposing muscles evenly you can mess things up despite what type of surgery. I believe that is probably the best advice I can give.

[LIP]

I've had both. Closed blew out right away. It is almost seven years now since my open Bankart (sp?) and I'm solid and pain free. I've defintely throttled my my aggressivenness a bit, but it doesn't hold me back at all.

[kboo]

Guys, it's "ARTHROscopic" v "open" and so its ARTHRO or OPEN, not ORTHO.
ORTHO is short for orthopedic surgery, which is surgery that deals with bones and joints.

I had an arthro repair of a 360-deg labral tear back in January and luckily it took. It's in great shape. My other shoulder needed an open repair (in May)because I had a labral tear plus a rotator cuff rupture/tear off my humerus (it is actually going to be in an ortho textbook). I'm still doing 2x/week rehab for both. For me, the first few weeks after the open procedure was definitely more painful. The wound hurt more, and my shoulder felt a lot more fragile. But then again the 2nd surgery was more involved and complicated. After the first 3 weeks, though, it has felt the same and the rehab has been the same. You really only feel a difference in the first 2-3 weeks, it's a bit more painful both on the wound and internally.