Senior skydiver receives hip replacement at IU Health Saxony using bikini incision to reduce scarring

DonnaMae Lindman is on a mission to complete the bucket list she and her husband made years ago. The 91-year-old has been skydiving, ridden in a hot air balloon and ziplined. However, in 2023, severe hip pain forced her to slow down.

After connecting with Dr. Leonard Buller, an orthopedic surgeon at IU Health Saxony, it was clear Lindman would need a hip replacement. But she was concerned about scarring.

"I didn’t want a ton of scarring,” Lindman says. “So, I just made an off the cuff remark, ‘Well, I can’t really wear my bikini anymore.’ And he said, ‘Well, we’re doing a bikini cut.’”

In May 2024, Lindman underwent a hip replacement at IU Health Saxony using a bikini incision.

A bikini incision hip replacement is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that involves replacing a damaged hip joint with an implant through a small, diagonal incision in the groin crease. The incision is made to follow the natural skin folds, or Langer's lines, which can help the incision heal better and leave a less noticeable scar.

“There are a lot of ways to do a hip replacement and specifically to get into the hip. One of those is the bikini incision,” Dr. Buller explains. “It’s not for everyone. Just like hip replacement isn’t for everyone. What you’ll find when you're in my office is we spend a lot of time talking, and I think that’s ok because we need to be on the same page. The priority is that patient’s hip or knee.”

Now, Lindman is recovering from her procedure, and is planning her next skydive in the spring.