# Steel Implants And Airport Security. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 29, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876 "2010-01-29T13:27:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/1 "2010-01-29T13:27:35Z")
In the answer to [“How Does A Person With A Steel Plate In His Head Get Through Airport Security?”](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/218/how-does-a-person-with-a-steel-plate-in-his-head-get-through-airport-metal-detectors) … Anecdotal: I have around 5 pounds of steel in my left leg and hip. I have never set off a detector. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/2 "2010-01-29T18:25:15Z")
My husband has had all the bones in his right leg from the knee down replaced. He _always_ sets off the metal detectors, and always has. It’s gotten to the point that sometimes he asks to go straight to the pat-down just to save time. Obviously, your mileage may vary. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/3 "2010-01-29T19:20:31Z")
Strange. ---
**Author:** ![Snake\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@Snake\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snake_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/4 "2010-03-17T15:14:18Z")
I had a total knee replacement in Jan. So far I’ve only tripped the alarm while entering and exiting Best Buy. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/5 "2010-03-23T22:20:36Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > I had a total knee replacement in Jan. So far I’ve only tripped the alarm while entering and exiting Best Buy. I have a total knee replacement. I \*always \*set off the alarms. But some newer replacements are made out of ceramic, not steel. And some are made of titanium, although I have no idea whether or not titanium would set off an airport metal detector. ---
**Author:** ![harriswillys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@harriswillys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harriswillys)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/6 "2010-03-26T07:21:51Z")
I carry surgical stainless rods in my femurs, the result of a youthful motorcycle accident. I also had a job wherein I was required to make small-claims court appearances four or five days a week. Most of the time I’d not trigger the metal detectors, but occasionally during times of “high alert” the gain for the machines would be raised to the point that I would set them off. I was fortunate in that pre-9/11 era that an explanation, a wanding and a brief pat down was sufficient to pass, particularly as most of the guards had come to know me. ---
**Author:** ![harriswillys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@harriswillys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harriswillys)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2010, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/7 "2010-03-26T08:51:07Z")
I carry surgical stainless rods in my femurs, the result of a youthful motorcycle accident. I also had a job wherein I was required to make small-claims court appearances four or five days a week, morning and afternoon, passing through courthouse metal detectors twice a day at least. Most of the time I’d not trigger the detectors, but occasionally during times of “high alert” the gain for the machines would be raised to the point that I would set them off. The same gain would also trigger alerts for such things as zippers and wedding rings, for perspective on how high they have to crank the boxes to pick up surgical steel implants. I was fortunate in that pre-9/11 era that an explanation, a wanding and a brief pat down was sufficient to pass, particularly as most of the guards had come to know me. So, yes, it is possible to set off a metal detector with surgical implants. Whether it will happen or not depends on how the machine has been set. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/8 "2010-03-27T20:08:10Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I have no idea whether or not titanium would set off an airport metal detector. I have a titanium plate in my skull. So far, no alarms at either airports or courthouses. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/9 "2010-03-27T22:15:48Z")
I’ve got a plate in/on my ankle. I’ve never set anything off. ---
**Author:** ![caballohiker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c0e974/32.png) [@caballohiker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caballohiker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/10 "2010-03-31T05:19:51Z")
I have steel or some other kind of metal rod running from my right hip to my knee, metal plates and screws in my right shoulder, plates in my left hip and although I do not travel on airplanes I have entered many government buildings using metal detectors and have never set them off. I’ve heard though if you are going to fly you can get documentation from a doctor stating you have metal in your body and where and you can show this to airport security and you won’t be bothered. ---
**Author:** ![dasmili](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@dasmili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmili)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/11 "2010-03-31T15:01:24Z")
I’m a TSA officer, and I’ve had people show me cards from their doctors stating that they have implants (and sometimes even showing x-ray images of the implant!), but from a security perspective, they still have to be checked if they set off the metal detector. After all, just because they have metal in their body, it doesn’t mean they don’t also have a weapon too. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/12 "2010-03-31T16:16:47Z")
Mr. TSA agent I have a question for you: Due to an unfortunate accident my husband has a titanium tibia and likewise the bones in his right foot have also been replaced. This is not a removable prosthesis, they are inside his leg. He ALWAYS sets off the metal detectors. He has been told that he must go to the specific doctor who did the surgery and get documentation. The problem is, the surgery was done over 30 years ago and said doctor is deceased due to old age. In fact, we are entirely unable to locate any surviving member of the surgical team. In other words, we can’t go back to the originators of this implant as they no longer exist. Questions: 1. MUST he go to the originating doctor, or can any doctor take an x-ray to document this is a medical thing and not a bomb? 2. What documentation, if any, is required? 3. Is documentation unnecessary and he just needs to have his leg wanded or whatever? And if that is the case, can he just ask to go straight to that, or does he have to go through through setting off the alarms first? Needless to say, when the surgery was done the goal was to save him from an amputation - the current level of security hysteria was entirely non-existent and metal detectors far less common, no one was routinely issued little cards saying “artificial parts included”. I’d sort of like to know if he would ever be able to board a commercial flight again (he _has_ been refused boarding in the past by zealous security types) or if we should just resign ourselves to never visiting anywhere outside of North America ever again. As for why my husband routinely sets off detectors while others don’t, I haven’t a clue. Perhaps it’s the quantity of metal. Perhaps it is the proximity to the surface of his body (there’s not a lot of flesh covering your shin bone). ---
**Author:** ![dasmili](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@dasmili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmili)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/13 "2010-03-31T20:15:57Z")
Broomstick- No documentation is required for an implant. If a passenger sets off the metal detector, for any reason, the TSA officer is required to do the wanding procedure to resolve the alarm. It can save your husband some time if he tells the officer that he has an implant, so the officer won’t go through the whole spiel about removing keys, coins, etc. I can assure you that implants are no big deal for TSA, we see hundreds of them every day and we’re well used to dealing with them. As for why some people’s implants set metal detectors off and others don’t, I’ve always assumed it had to do with how much metal it was (ie, a few pins vs. a whole hip), and where it is located in the body. I’m not an expert on how the machines work, just how to use them! ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/14 "2010-03-31T22:40:05Z")
Well, as I said, he’d been refused boarding privileges in the past Maybe it was a poorly trained worker, nonetheless, a passenger has zero recourse if the security agent makes a mistake or is just a jerk. He normally does warn security even before he goes through a detector that he has an implant and often (almost always) sets them off. That _usually_ keeps things at a low stress level and keeps things moving along, but it only takes one idiot… And yeah, he’s got quite a lot of metal in his leg. As I said - artificial tibia. It’s not a plate or a pin, it replaces the entire bone. It looks like an I-beam on x-ray. ---
**Author:** ![dasmili](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@dasmili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmili)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steel-implants-and-airport-security/526876/15 "2010-04-01T17:46:52Z")
A passenger should never be denied boarding just for a metal implant. If I found out one of my people had done it, I would be pissed. Even though I am a TSA employee, I admit we make plenty of mistakes. There are routes that you can use to make complaints about shoddy treatment. First, you can complain to a supervisor, which of course doesn’t help if they are the ones causing the problem in the first place. The TSA website has a [link](https://contact.tsa.dhs.gov/gotfeedback/GotFeedback.aspx) for making comments about specific issues that you have, and they generally seem to be pretty responsive. Beyond that, you can write to your congressman, which seems to generally work pretty well. I’d be interested in hearing more detail about your husband’s specific case, since as I said, that should have happened the way it did.