Thirty-one patients with an average age of twenty-seven years had
painful hips as the result of coxa plana in childhood. The pain was severe
enough for surgical relief to be considered. Radiographically the lesions
could be subdivided into three groups: severe mushroom deformity of the
femoral head, 43 per cent; less severe dysplasia of the hip, 27 per cent;
and severe osteoarthritis, 30 per cent. Twenty-three hip operations were
done on theses patients. Fifteen hips showed radiographic evidence of
definitive premature closure of the femoral capital epiphysis. The series
is presented to illustrate that coxa plana may be followed by major
disability in the hip within the first three decades of life.