I also had perthes as a child, I was diagnosed very early with a severe left hip and mild right. No operation was available at the time (age 5) (42 now), I have now developed a severe pain problem with the hip joint and lower back, after consulting with the doctor it is clear I have little cartlidge left on the hip joint and the pain gets worse month on month. I have had my legs measured and my left is 1.5 inches shorter than the right.

I have been trying to get an appointment with the consultant for months now with no joy.

I have decided to have a consultation privately to have the problem diagnosed properly and then present this to my GP to try and move things along.

I have previously been private and the outcome is going to be a replacement Hip, this was 5 years ago and the advise from the consultant was to try and wait as long as possible before going down this route due to the life span of the hip replacements. I am afraid I can wait no longer as the pain becomes unbareable and movement is very limited.

It sounds like the outcome will be the same for you eventually but if it is to painful to cope the only thing I can suggest is a private consultation, this usually ends up being the same consultant as the NHS and you then have a faster route to the treatment needed on NHS. The down side is the consultation can cost £150 to £350 depending which hospital you go to.