Hip & Knee Replacement for Patients in Waikīkī, Hawai‘i

Your second opinion may begin with a hip. You may have been told you need a replacement and want to know whether the direct anterior approach, or a bikini-line incision, suits your anatomy before you schedule. You may already have a replaced hip, done in Honolulu or on the mainland, that has slipped out of place or has never felt steady along the Ala Wai. Or you may be spending a long stretch in Waikīkī and want a Hawai‘i surgeon to weigh a recommendation you received somewhere else.

Dr. Morton reads the films and scans himself rather than leaning on the radiology report, and a written impression with plan options typically reaches you one to two weeks later. Nobody expects you to move your care. Send the actual images, not only the reports, and you can upload your images (opens in a new tab) first, although uploading neither counts as a review nor books a visit. Gather the rest with the checklist on the second opinion page.

Level sidewalks make Waikīkī an easy place to come home to with a new knee. For a total knee, Dr. Morton fits the implant to the way your leg is naturally aligned and how its ligaments balance, staying inside published safe-zone limits; long-term durability data for that personalized method are still building. He reaches the joint through the subvastus, quad-sparing approach on nearly every total knee, leaving the quadriceps tendon uncut, and he uses no tourniquet on any first-time knee. Very muscular or tight knees, marked deformity and old surgical scarring can call for another route.

Fixation is cementless when bone quality allows, assessed on X-ray and verified in the operating room, and cemented when the bone is softer. If you surf or swim off Waikīkī, a new knee keeps you on land until the wound has fully closed and you are cleared, typically at six weeks; experienced surfers commonly paddle out again three to six months after a knee replacement. The knee replacement hub covers the rest.

The direct anterior approach is Dr. Morton’s standard hip operation. Muscles are left whole, neither cut nor detached from bone; the joint capsule alone is opened, and most people are spared hip precautions. A different approach is occasionally the safer one, for example after a previous hip operation, with plates or screws left in place, marked deformity, a heavy skin fold over the groin, or slow-healing wounds. If that is you, he says so.

Near the sand, the scar question comes up early. If this is your first hip and you want the scar under swimwear, the incision can follow the bikini line, provided your anatomy allows. Should he need more room during surgery, he converts to the standard anterior incision; implant position is never traded for a smaller scar. Typical hardware is titanium for the cup, cross-linked polyethylene for the liner and, usually, ceramic for the head, fixed without cement if the bone allows; dual mobility is kept for higher dislocation risk. The philosophy page explains his reasoning.

A partial knee resurfaces only the worn compartment. It suits arthritis limited to one area, an intact ACL, a knee that still straightens properly, mild deformity that corrects, and pain that has not settled with therapy, medication and injections. Wear in two or three compartments, a torn or missing ACL, rheumatoid or other inflammatory arthritis, or severe deformity points toward a total instead. Dr. Morton does every type, patellofemoral, bicompartmental, medial and lateral, each mapped out in 3D, performed with robotic guidance through a smaller incision, and done without a tourniquet.

The trade-off: a partial is somewhat more likely to need revision over a lifetime, and converting one to a total still counts as a revision, although usually the easier job compared with redoing a failed total. Being younger or older does not decide it on its own. For Waikīkī residents, the exam and standing X-rays can both happen in one trip to the Ala Moana clinic. The partial vs total knee guide sets the two side by side.

On O‘ahu the robotic platform is matched to your case and the hospital. At The Queen’s Medical Center, ROSA® is used, and its planning runs on standard X-rays, so no CT scan is needed. Whichever system is in the room, it carries out Dr. Morton’s 3D plan and reports alignment and balance. The robot does not make cuts by itself or decide anything; every step is his.

Essentially every hip he replaces is robot-guided. If you worry about a hip slipping out of place, know what the plan sets: where the cup sits, how long the leg ends up, offset, and stem size, and X-rays of the spine, both standing and seated, can refine the cup target. Leg length is also checked with X-rays during surgery, though no robot can guarantee equal leg length. Robotic assistance is billed as an ordinary joint replacement, with no separate patient fee and no change to Medicare coverage. He is certified on VELYS, CORI, Mako and ROSA; see the robotic hip page.

Instability is one reason a replaced joint gets rechecked. A hip may dislocate, or feel as if it is about to slip as you step off a curb or wade out of the water; a knee may give way on stairs and keep swelling. No joint is revised without a reason, so the workup comes first: new films beside old ones, ESR and CRP markers from a blood draw, joint fluid drawn and cultured if infection is a concern, an MRI with metal-artifact reduction, or a CT, if questions remain, and a check of the implant’s make, size and recall history.

Confirmed instability is repaired through implant and bearing choices, such as dual mobility for a hip or added constraint for a knee. These operations are planned at a hospital, usually Queen’s, and usually mean a brief inpatient stay. Revision makes up roughly half of Dr. Morton’s practice, much of it sent by other surgeons, and the Revision Hip & Knee Clinic routinely sees joints first replaced on the mainland or abroad.

The Honolulu clinic is one district over from Waikīkī, in Ala Moana, facing Ala Moana Center, and you can park inside the building. Consultations, standing X-rays, in-house physical therapy and follow-up visits all happen under that one roof. A first appointment is usually available within one to two weeks. Call (808) 439-6201, Monday to Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm HST, or book through the Schedule button.

Surgery is a short trip away at The Queen’s Medical Center, or at Adventist Health Castle in Kailua when that fits your case and insurance; the choice is made together, weighing the procedure, your health and your plan. Dr. Morton leads the surgical decisions and performs the operation himself, while physician assistants, nurses, therapists and anesthesia providers carry other parts of your care. If you are flying in and recovering in Waikīkī, arrange airport and ground transport before you travel; the travel guide covers the details.

Most people walk with a walker on surgery day and lean on it for about the first couple of weeks before a cane takes its place. Waikīkī’s level streets help: begin with short, frequent laps near your building, then stretch them along the Ala Wai or into Kapi‘olani Park as you steady. Therapy picks up on your first or second day back home, with the in-house team in Ala Moana or any licensed therapist you choose, who receives his written protocols.

The first post-operative check is around a week out, and a yearly X-ray watches the implant after that. If Waikīkī is a temporary base and your home is on another island, plan on about 10 to 14 days on O‘ahu, through that first check, and fly only once the surgical team clears you, never on surgery day; book flights you can change. Seated outrigger paddling fits a new hip once you can get in and out of the canoe safely. The first-year hip guide maps the months ahead.