Depends... haven't done it myself. If they're just going to go in an clean out torn meniscus, she shouldn't be "out" more than an hour, really. Recovery is quick. If they actually sew the torn meniscus back together, the recovery takes much longer, up to 8 weeks or more. Cartilage heals really slow. Removing it is fine, if you're not super young or a pro athlete, I wouldn't expect them to recommend repair. Honestly couldn't tell you how much longer the actual procedure is with a repair vs a cleanout.
I had one cleaned up last year. From the time they took me back until they brought my daughter back to recovery was about one hour. I would guess I was under for about 20-30 minutes. Definitely walked out feeling better than I did when I got there. Hope she has the same results.
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Had mine cleaned out 5 years ago. I was having a hard time walking before the Dr. did it. I can run now. Out for less than an hour total. Orthoscopic incision.
Ortho Oklahoma In Stillwater did mine. Dr Jameson did the procedure, as well as he repaired my ruptured bicep tendon. Great ortho DR.
Ortho Oklahoma In Stillwater did mine. Dr Jameson did the procedure, as well as he repaired my ruptured bicep tendon. Great ortho DR.
I had that done in July of 2014. After the surgery, the doctor told my wife there wasn't hardly any cartilage left and I had arthritis throughout the knee. It was better for about 1 month then got worse. Just had total replacement on May 22, 2015. Sucks. But I'm getting better.
Hope everything goes better for your girlfriend. I had my right knee scoped in 1995 and it is fine still. She will probably be just fine. I'm just one of those lucky ones.
Hope everything goes better for your girlfriend. I had my right knee scoped in 1995 and it is fine still. She will probably be just fine. I'm just one of those lucky ones.
Thanks for the info. guys,She was just wondering and a little worried about going under and wanted to know what was gonna happen. She was told she needed knee replacement and will have to have it eventually. Wish they would do it now but they won't? She is pretty tough so hopefully she will be up and running soon !!
Knee replacements have a pretty set "life"... they guesstimate around 20 years right now, I think. So if you're likely going to outlive the prosthesis by very long, they will try to put you off as long as humanly possible to avoid you wearing it out. So if you're 45 and "need" a new knee, you can count on the doc trying to get you another 10 or more years out of your current one. Replacing a replacement ain't a minor thing. I'm trying to think of someone who had a "routine" 2nd replacement and I can't. A few who got a second one after an infection or an accident, maybe. But that's NOT something you wanna deal with. I know one guy who had to have his prosthetic removed and lived WITHOUT a knee for 6 months or a year due to an infection he developed and they had to let everything heal up first to make sure there was no infection left after removing the hardware before they could put another one in. Heck, most times in that kind of situation, they're just going to look at amputation and full-on total prosthetic leg. Not a good solution.
Knees are a *****.
<edit> My step-grandfather in Tulsa is in his late 80s, working on a prosthetic knee. No way anyone is going to replace it now and it is SHOT. Damn thing looks like he's walking on a cobbled-together sock full of croquet balls and is all but immobile... but he keeps on keepin' on. Damn fart, outlived his titanium knee by 10 or 15 years now. Hell, the cardiologist gave him a new aortic valve and was less concerned than the orthopod about replacing his knee again!
My former boss had needed a knee replacement for a few years, but his ortho doc was very reluctant to do it because 20 years was the expected lifetime of the replacement (he's in his early 50s). Within the last year or two, they came out with a newer artificial knee that has an expected 30 year lifetime, and I think that's what they ended up using for him.
"Projected".... lol. So they say. No telling until there've been a few million in use for 20+ years. lol
I'm not sure if doing the "partial" replacements allow you more flexibility for having a total done later, but I don't THINK so. Maybe JJ can weigh in.
But "statistics!"
Turns out it may not matter due to other factors--the 20 year knee might've been just as good of a bet.
