Hip resurfacing vrs hip replacement

Hi Ruth,
I have a resurfaced left hip (Birmingham hip) that will be 5 years old in November, I based my decision to have this on the information I found online (but not this site!) because I wanted to continue running and rock climbing and mountaineering. I still do all these things and have no trouble from this hip, but I do get blood tests every 3 years to check chromium and cobalt levels which might indicate wear.
When my right hip stopped working I went for the same operation but the ball fell off my femur whilst fitting the metal cap so I got a ceramic/ceramic THR instead. My surgeon assured me I would not be able to break this, it should not wear out, and I am still running, climbing and mountaineering. It is now just over 2 years old. In some ways recovery was easier than the BHR, ie running at 6 weeks, in others worse. I have had random pains from the right leg for most of the time and still feel I have to baby this leg a bit – but I have just had a spell of mountaineering activity which included 33 miles over the Welsh 3000 ft hills with no problems from the hips so I hope recovery is nearly complete…
Resurfacing is the better option mechanically if you are suitable but unfortunately women and smaller men are not – Smith and Nephew withdrew their smaller sizes of implant and forbade their use in women due to the historic failure rate.
In the UK, Birmingham (McMinn) and Imperial College (Cobb) have ceramic solutions, a couple of the US top surgeons have metal/polyethylene bearings from other manufacturers to offer, you can go to Surfacehippy to read stories from people with resurfacings. Most are highly satisfied, some disappointed, and some even have revisions to THRs for various reasons.
A shame that Andy Murray wasted time having his previous surgery, he could have been competing in singles again by now…