The BIRMINGHAM HIP has very low wear
One of the problems with early total hip resurfacing devices was that the plastic component would wear at a tremendous rate. Even those that didn't have wearing out of the plastic piece had problems with the large amounts of plastic wear debris. The debris caused the body to react, leading to loss of bone surrounding the implant. To make a bearing thin enough for resurfacing, ceramics are too brittle and plastics are too weak. The only real alternative is a metal-on-metal design.
Metal-on-metal has had both good success and high failure in the past. By comparing the design features of the good and the bad, the proper design of the BIRMINGHAM HIP bearing was made. Now, a decade later, the BIRMINGHAM HIP bearing is the low wear bearing with the longest track record of success.
Most other bearing systems for THRs that are being marketed today have been developed and introduced since the BIRMINGHAM HIP was first used. Although some of these bearings can trace their pedigree to earlier times, the design has changed over that time to address problems they've found. The BIRMINGHAM HIP System can trace its bearing design pedigree to the 1960s, and can document successful clinical use with a constant design since 1997.
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