For years, Lili M. lived with pain she could not fully explain. A healthy, active young mom in Denver, she had dealt with hip and leg pain long before her pregnancies. After her children were born, the pain only grew worse.
At different points, she was told it could be related to pregnancy or breastfeeding due to the hormones the body releases to help ligaments and tissues loosen during pregnancy and postpartum. But even after that season ended, the pain remained.
Eventually, an X-ray revealed the real issue: hip dysplasia. A congenital condition, hip dysplasia happens when the hip socket does not fully cover or support the ball of the hip joint. Today, it is often caught and treated in infancy. But Lili, who was born in China in the 1980s, said this was not something doctors checked for there at the time.
Over time, undiagnosed hip dysplasia can place extra stress on the joint, damaging cartilage and leading to labral tears, chronic pain and other problems.
As she searched for answers, Lili interviewed multiple surgeons. Presley Swann, MD, of HCA HealthONE Knee and Hip, recommended a staged approach: one surgery with Brian White, MD, of Western Orthopaedics to address the labrum, followed by a separate periacetabular osteotomy, or PAO, with Dr. Swann to correct the structural issue. A PAO is a complex hip preservation procedure that repositions the hip socket for better coverage and alignment.
At the time, Lili chose a different surgeon who offered to do everything in one surgery. But her recovery did not go as planned. A year later, her bone still had not healed. Her hip had been left in a retroverted, or poorly aligned, position. She was limping, living in significant pain and relying on strong pain medication far longer than she ever expected.
“I thought it was me,” she said. “The first surgical team made it sound like it was just my body, like sometimes this just happens. I’m healthy. I’m fit. But I started to feel like I was the problem.”
When she returned to Dr. Swann for another opinion, he immediately saw the issue on her X-ray. Her hip was in a bad position, and the longer she kept walking on it that way, the more damage it could cause. That moment brought both heartache and relief. After all she had already been through, she was now facing revision surgery. But for the first time in a long time, she also felt a sense of hope.
For Dr. Swann, the goal was not to dwell on what had already happened, but to help Lili move forward.
“No matter which surgeon a patient chooses, we always want the best outcome for that patient,” Dr. Swann said. “When she returned to me unable to even sit without pain, we were thankful we could help get her back on track and correct the previous surgery.”
Dr. Swann is one of the few physicians in the country specializing in hip preservation surgery and minimally invasive robotic knee and hip surgery. Dr. White is internationally known for his expertise in labral reconstruction, particularly in complex cases and revision care. Together, they offered Lili something she had nearly lost: confidence that her case could be corrected.
“Being able to help fix a complex case like Lili’s is exactly why I completed two fellowships in this field,” Dr. Swann said. “My message to her was not to dwell in the past or the decision-making that got us here. With that positive energy, we were able to get her back on track.”
After that appointment, Lili left in tears under the weight of what it meant to start over. As she walked to her car, Dr. Swann came out behind her and stopped her.
“He told me, ‘I can’t say this to every patient, but I believe I can fix you,’” Lili said. “That meant everything.” For Lili, that moment became a turning point.
Her revision care began with Dr. White, who performed a labral reconstruction in a complex procedure that lasted about seven hours. One week later, Dr. Swann performed the revision PAO to finally reposition her hip correctly. This time, the experience was entirely different.
Lili went into the second round of surgeries scared. By then, she knew what recovery could look like. She also knew what it meant to try to care for two very young children while living in constant pain. At the time of her first surgery, her children were just 2 and 3 years old. Looking back, she feels that difficult year took something from her. “I felt like that year took so much from me as a mom,” she said.
But after her revision surgeries, recovery was night and day. She did not need the same level of narcotic pain medication after discharge. Even early movement felt more manageable. Her bone healed within three to four months. The difference, she said, was clear: this time her hip was finally in the right position.
Dr. Swann said Lili’s experience also illustrates why, in certain complex cases, a staged approach may be easier on the patient even if one surgery may seem more convenient at first. “Patients often like the idea that everything can be accomplished with one anesthetic,” Dr. Swann said. “But in Lili’s case, her postoperative pain and recovery showed why we often prefer to break these surgeries into two procedures. While one anesthetic can seem easier, no one wants to be in more postoperative pain.”
Today, about a year and half after her surgeries with Dr. Swann and Dr. White, Lili says her hip feels mechanically strong. She still has some numbness related to nerve damage, and soft tissue healing continues. After spending so long limping, she also had to retrain her body and rebuild healthy movement patterns through physical therapy, resistance workouts and intentional movement. Still, she feels capable again.
She may not be doing high-impact exercise, but she is back to the parts of life that matter most. She can play board games with her children, kick a soccer ball, wrestle around at home and play monsters on the playground. Her kids, now 4 and 5, know one thing about their mom: she does not run. But she is there with them, active and engaged in the ways that count.
Now, Lili hopes her story encourages others to slow down, ask questions and carefully research their options, especially in complex cases. Her advice is simple: do not choose based on comfort or convenience alone. Choose the team with the expertise to fully understand the problem, the judgment to create the right plan and the skill to do it right.
For Lili, the right team did more than revise a failed surgery. They helped restore function, rebuild trust and return her to the life waiting for her.