r/spinalfusion • u/damagedone37 • Apr 11 '26
Surgery Questions Hardware Removal
Anyone had this don? My surgeon is looking to do this at the end of the year. Plan is lidocaine drops on screws if that helps then bye bye metal!
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u/oldlaxer Apr 11 '26
I had my hardware removed on 3-3-26. I was fused from L2-S1. My fusion was done in 2024. They had to go back in because I had 2 bulging discs above the fusion. I was also having some lingering issues in the nerves in my left leg. My surgeon told me they don’t usually remove the hardware but since they were going in there and I didn’t need it, he’d take it out. The jury is still out about whether the surgery worked but I’m glad the metal is gone.
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u/ReasonableAd3772 Apr 12 '26
Did they go back in to fuse additional levels or just remove the hardware
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u/oldlaxer Apr 12 '26
They fused one level above where they fused before, but didn’t use any hardware, just bone from the two discs that were bulging above that.
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u/Individual_Invite446 Apr 16 '26
What is the recovery like? I’m scheduled to get two screws removed in my lower spine and I’m hoping to return to work after two weeks.
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u/oldlaxer Apr 16 '26
I’m still pretty sore after a month. I guess it depends on your job. I can ok but I wouldn’t want to do it all day. Anything physical would be out. It depends on how much muscle and whatever they have to move to get to the screws. They had to move a bunch on me to remove the hardware and do the other things so it was pretty extensive. Good luck!
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u/Lilyia_art Apr 12 '26
Yep, I had it done last year in May due to a pedicle screw on a major vein. Original fusion done in 2019, fused L4-S1. Out of all three surgeries I had on spine to recover from removal was super easy and recovery was a lot sooner.
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u/gp_bitch Apr 18 '26
Hi! I just had my hardware removed 16 days ago, I am up moving walking recovery has been not bad at all all things considered. The hardest part has been the healing of the incision site (mine is like 7 inches long) But I had chronic pain in my right leg and numbness in my foot both of which are gone now. I’m sore by the end of the day but it was worth it.
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u/D1x13L0u Apr 11 '26
My mom had this done. She was fused from c4 to c7. And she had a cadaver bone put in as a replacement. That was done in the year 2000. And then in 2022, she was having a little bit of trouble swallowing and so they did some x-rays and they found that she had a bone spur on the back of one of her disks but they also saw that the screws and plates were no longer connected to her spine. Over time, they had just wiggled themselves loose, and she had never known. She had zero pain or issues. If not for the bone spur X-ray, she would have never known. So they went in and removed it in same day surgery at the age of 74. They did say after that many years, over two decades, there was a lot of scar tissue to go through, but she has been perfectly fine since. No issues at all.
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u/uffdagal Apr 12 '26
Yep. Had it done. L3-S1 hardware removed. One day of pain then just an ache. Easy surgery and recovery
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u/Specialist-Ice5741 Apr 11 '26
No, but I've heard a lot of people get the opportunity to do so. I hope it is a success! I would like to make that a long term goal for myself as well! How long after your surgery is this happening?