I am 21 years old and I have had pretty bad irritation from the clavicle plate put in to fix a broken collarbone. I had surgery almost 7 months ago to insert the plate, and the doctors want to remove it now. I have a very good surgeon on the case. I have had several doctors look at it, and everyone says they like to wait 12-18 months. Does anyone have any information as to what the risk is in removing the metal plate and screws early?
I had mine removed after only 2 months. In my case the collarbone was broken about 3/4" away from the acromio-clavicular joint; maybe it heals faster when the fracture is near the end of the bone, I don’t know. Initially the removal was scheduled after 3 months, but the screws I had in my acromion moved and the plate was sticking out pretty badly under the skin (I also ruptured the acromo-clavicular and coraco-clavicular ligaments).
Anyway I haven’t had any problems since the removal. Normal training, including swimming, resumed 2 weeks after surgery.
my doc says there’s no need to ever remove the plate unless it’s troubling you in some specific way. but, how hard would removing it be? maybe 1 to 2 weeks of minor downtime, as in, no swimming?
premature removal risks refracture. 1 year is typically what most orthopedic surgeons recommend. if you were to crash in the first 3-4 weeks after removal and hit your clavicle directly or land on your shoulder, i would be very concerned about refracture. the bone is weak after plate removal due to the residual holes from the screws. These will fill in with time, about 4-6 weeks to mostly fill in.