My father has a metal plate in his hip, will it be a problem in the x-ray machine at the airport?
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Yes, your father will be delayed. The security device (metal detector, not an x-ray machine) will detect the metal in his hip. Security staff will ask him if he has any metal, and he will explain about the metal implant. They will then take him aside and use the hand-held wand to check him. It will activate when it is near his hip. If that is the only place it activates, and they don't find any other metal on him, they will let him board the plane.
This will add time to going through the security line, so he should plan on coming even more ahead than usual.
I've included a link to Dr. Tarlow's page. It shows that plates with screws set off the metal detector about 25% (one out of four) of the time. Full hip replacements set off the detector every time (100%).
It might be. If the plate is titanium, it should not be an issue.
Typically, patients can get little cards that are signed by the doctor stating what kind of joint replacment is present.
It shouldn't be because most plates are made out of a material that won't set off those types of electrical metal detectors
They do not put you through an X-Ray machine at the airport. Even if they did, it would be obvoius that the metal hip replacement is just that, and nothing more.
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