Should I be asking which implant they are putting in, and is stemless something to request?

Since the cuff thread sorted out WHICH operation I am having (reverse, confirmed), I have gone down a new rabbit hole and I would like someone to tell me whether it is a sensible one or a waste of my three weeks left.

I have been reading about implants. Stemmed, stemless, different metals, plastic sockets, and apparently there are a fair few manufacturers. And I have found forum posts elsewhere from people saying you should always ask which implant is going in and check its track record, as if it were choosing a boiler.

So is that a real thing I should be doing, or am I about to walk in and annoy a surgeon by asking him to justify his kit? And is stemless the better option that I should be pushing for, because from what I have read it sounds like the newer, cleverer one and nobody has offered it to me.

Ha, the boiler comparison is exactly how I approached mine and I got precisely nowhere with it. I asked, he told me, and the name meant absolutely nothing to me so I just nodded. Worth asking if it settles you, but do not expect to be able to judge the answer.

The stemless thing I would go gently on. My understanding is it depends on your bone being good enough to hold it, so it is not a better model you upgrade to, it is one that suits some shoulders and not others. Also worth noting it is mainly talked about for anatomic totals from what I read. You are having a reverse, so I suspect the question does not land the same way for you at all.

Derek, this is a good rabbit hole to have been down and a poor one to make a demand out of, so let me split it.

Asking is fine. Any decent surgeon will happily tell you what they are using and why, and the useful version of the question is not "what brand" but "why that one for my shoulder, and how many of them do you put in a year". The second half is the part that actually matters. Familiarity with a system is worth more than the badge on it, which is why I would rather have a surgeon using something they fit every week than one trying a design because I read about it.

On stemless, sleptsittingup has it about right. The humeral component can be a stemmed implant seated down the arm bone or a shorter stemless design fixed to the bone surface, and stemless can spare bone stock where the bone is good enough to take it. That last clause is doing the work. It is a candidacy question decided on your bone and your operation, not a premium option you tick. Our page on stemless shoulder replacement explains where it fits, and what the implants are actually made of covers the metal and plastic side if you want the detail before you go in.

For what it is worth, I asked my surgeon almost nothing about my own reverse implant and asked him a great deal about how many reverses he did a year. Three years on I think I weighted those correctly.

Asked, and it went better than the boiler thing suggested. He told me what he uses for reverses, said he fits them constantly, and when I mentioned stemless he explained it is not really the question for the operation I am having. Did not seem remotely annoyed. Reframing it as how many do you do a year was the bit that got the useful conversation going, so cheers for that.

Late to this but I will add the awkward bit nobody has said. I asked what mine was, wrote it down, and then two years later when I needed to fill in a form about metal implants I could not find the piece of paper anywhere. Ask for it to be recorded in your discharge letter rather than trusting yourself to keep a note. That is the practical reason to ask, more than judging the design.