Two Partial Meniscectomies: Similarities and Differences

As of September 9th, 2022, I’ve had three knee surgeries in total including two partial meniscectomies.

In case you haven’t yet seen anything about my injury history, my line of surgeries began with ACL reconstruction and medial and lateral meniscus repair in April 2018. I then had a partial meniscectomy on the same knee due to a failed meniscus repair in May 2019.

For over 3 years, I was surgery free. But, as I mentioned, I’ve now had my third knee surgery and second partial meniscectomy.

I still receive a lot of comments on my original meniscectomy surgery day/recovery videos. While going through my recent rehab, I even looked back on those. What I noticed was how very different the pain, recovery, and process were after EXACT same surgery on two different occasions.

In this article, I’ll compare my first and second partial meniscectomy and talk about some of the biggest differences.

Surgery Details

Before diving into the rest of the comparison, it’s important to lay the foundation of the exact surgery I had.

In both cases, I had a partial meniscectomy of the medial meniscus in my left knee.

Yes, I had the exact same meniscus trimmed TWICE. Two partial meniscectomies on the same meniscus.

How much meniscus was removed each time? I do not know.

Where exactly was the trim? I do not know.

These two questions may play a role in the rest of what I’ll share, but unfortunately, I do not have the information.

Surgery Facility/Setup

One huge difference between these surgeries was where and how they took place. I had my first partial meniscectomy in the same hospital with the same surgeon who completed my ACL reconstruction/menisci repairs.

My second surgery was in Turkey where I’m playing soccer. It’s safe to say there are some differences in hospitals and surgery.

• I had to wait longer to get an MRI, receive the results of the MRI, and get into surgery in the United States.
• My exact injury and options were made much clearer in the U.S.
• The surgery took about the same amount of time in each location.
• The facilities were newer and larger in the U.S.
• The surgery is outpatient in the U.S. (leave same day) but in Turkey I had to stay the night.
• I returned for 3 post-op follow-up visits in the U.S. and only 1 in Turkey.

Recovery Conditions

There were several conditions that were different between the two recoveries. These conditions undoubtedly influenced the process.

• During my second meniscectomy, I was in season for professional soccer. During the first, I was technically in-season for amateur/not professional soccer.
• My first meniscectomy was only 1 year after my ACL surgery and menisci repair.
• At home during my first recovery, I had access to PT 1-2 times per week. In Turkey, I had access to an athletic trainer but primarily recovered on my own.
• My first doctor was extremely conservative with rehab. She did not clear you for a stage until you were 100% ready (no jogging with swelling, for example). In Turkey, they were far less restrictive and tried to push a lot more.

Pain

I see a lot of people comment that they are surprised about my mobility after meniscus surgery even after noticing it’s a meniscectomy.

After the first surgery, I had pretty minimal pain. I could walk the same day without extreme pain, but I certainly had some. Overall, the surgery felt like a relief that alleviated the immense pain I had when a piece of my meniscus was floating in my knee.

My experience was pretty different after my second meniscectomy. I had A LOT of pain after surgery. I could barely turn over in bed or even move my ankle. Walking was agonizing and I required a lot of support for the first 2-3 days.

Even after the initial extreme pain, I felt this recovery was more painful overall. It was taking a long time to reduce the pain for walking, ROM, jogging, etc.

Swelling

In both cases, I had significant swelling after surgery. It took several weeks to eliminate the swelling. But after my first surgery, I was still battling swelling after 4 weeks. The swelling took a little less time to get rid of after my second surgery. It was gone by around 4 weeks.

Milestones

Despite having more pain, the progression of my second partial meniscectomy recovery was quicker. This is in part because I was in season and had external pressure to return.

Here’s a comparison of milestones between the two partial meniscectomies:

Every Surgery is Unique

As you can see, there are several major differences between my first and second meniscectomy, despite being on the same meniscus in the same knee. While I’ll have to assess longer-term healing and response, my second meniscectomy recovery went faster overall, despite being more painful at first.

One major takeaway from my two partial meniscectomies is not to compare your progress or experience with anyone else. It’s great to hear about others’ journeys, but don’t take that as a rule for your own. You may progress quicker or slower depending on a huge number of factors, even for the same or a similar operation.