r/MACIknee

Can anyone recommend tried and true waterproof scar sheets. I really only care about my scar being covered while I’m in the sun and pool. If it does t actually help my scar look better but stays on when wet, that’s fine. I want to protect it from the sun.

I’ll be 39 this summer and my left knee has taken a beating in sports over the years (most coming from major soccer collisions). 11 years ago I had partial tears of LCL & PCL that my surgeon opted to leave alone and just do PT. In the past couple of years my knee has started giving me more pain and troubles. In November of last year I had an arthroscopic chondroplasty, partial synovectomy, lateral release and the MACI biopsy taken. I have a ~1.5cm defect in my medial femoral chondyle of about 50% thickness loss.

February to April, it seemed like the arthroscopic cleanup was all that I needed, despite some pain at the lateral release site. Now, I’m getting near constant discomfort in my knee. It feels “full” most of the time and by the evening, it swells and stiffens and on occasion it has locked up which never happened before. I’ve been avoiding high intensity things that I enjoy like recreational softball, pickleball, hiking, etc. and I still experience discomfort to pain — even just from light housework (dishes, laundry, etc.).

I have an appointment with my ortho on Monday, but would love some perspective from those who have gone through this. Was the pain at the point where it was unbearable? It’s definitely not that intense for me. But I also worry about making the cartilage damage worse by putting it off. I’d like to avoid a total knee replacement in my older years.

Knowing how long and hard the recovery is, what level of pain and discomfort pushed you to doing the surgery? Or do you regret it or wish you would have waited longer (I have about 4 years left of Vericel holding onto my cartilage cells) or not done it at all?

I’m a wife, mom to a 7 year old and I work full time (fortunately it’s a desk job that’s 100% remote, but our short-term disability benefits cap out at 60%). Can I get by taking just 2-3 weeks off work?

I also live in a 2-story home. Would I be able to manage the stairs or would I likely need to move a bed to the main floor (still need to go upstairs for bathing)?

Thanks in advance for any insight you all have!

it’s funny cause the six weeks of non wb and no pt was so rough and i was really excited to get started and progress quickly. but now that it’s been a week of doing pt and increasing wb i feel sorta paranoid about damaging the graft. like my pt had me transition to one crutch pretty quickly and like it all felt fine and now (week 7) she thinks i can transition to no crutch in a few days. like shes not pushing me or anything and i feel good but it’s almost like too good to be true.

Hi everyone! 27F, 1.5 years post MACI procedure (Left knee full-thickness chondral defect patella, measuring 33 mm x 22 mm).

Recovery has taken a long time for me. I had a scope back in December and they ended up shaving off an edge of the graft that had folded (and was most likely the culprit for a lot of my problems). Otherwise, my graft has been holding on and looks great which my surgeon is very happy about.

Since that scope, I’ve been progressing quite a bit! I can now ride my horse with 0 pain, run my dogs at agility without hesitation, and even have been mostly cleared by my PT to lift heavier at the gym!

I still base most things off of letting pain guide me, but most days I don’t even think about my knee anymore. It’ll still flare up every once in a while, but I believe this may be my new normal.

If you’re like me and have a slower recovery, don’t let others success bring you down!

I just went through stage 1 for my MACI, but a lot of what I’m reading here on Reddit seems up and down.

I have a full fissure right underneath the knee cap. It absolutely screwed with my ability to be athletic, but the MACI success rate seems positive. Wonder if anyone had a positive experience after the 12 months, but also where were you at 6 months?

I’ve got my extraction surgery for my MACI next week and even though I’ve grilled my doctors about the process, I’m still a bit nervous. My doctors make it sound as if the extraction is nothing serious but it’s a surgery! That doesn’t feel like a light thing. Plus I have a prescription for Oxycodone. That’s a narcotic! I’m trying to find stuff online about the first surgery but I keep coming up empty. There’s so much stuff out there about the MACI surgery but so little about what happens before. Am I just making a big deal out of this for nothing? Would anyone would be willing to share their extraction story so I can chill out about this surgery?

Hi all -

I had MACI surgery on 6/17/26 and am using this to document my progress. I’ve seen a ton of varying reviews of recovery and effectiveness so I thought I’d post my own experience as it comes.

August 2024 - fell down stairs, sprained ankle, did not seek physician care.

May 2025 - Symptoms continued to increase even after ankle healed. I went to my GP who sent out for an MRI and a referral to an ortho specialist. They found I had a torn meniscus. We scheduled surgery for August 2025.

August 2025 - surgery came and went, they performed a meniscus repair, and the surgeon told me he took the liberty of performing a MACI biopsy to send off to the lab just in case because he found one, maybe two cartilage defects in my patella. He said 50/50 if I’ll really need it, but continue with PT and we will re-evaluate. During the actual surgery recovery, I had incredible swelling that limited most all of my movement for months and my ability to weight bearing was really difficult for almost a month post op.

August 2025 - April 2026 - super diligent with PT, returned to running, lifting and had zero pain relief from the initial symptoms that I was going through after the fall. Squatting past a certain point hurt, I couldn’t stop/pivot without pain, or go down stairs, and running/sprinting swelled my knee up like crazy.

April 2026 - sought out my surgeon who did my meniscus repair, he did a series of tests and immediately recommended MACI. We scheduled surgery for 6/17/26.

June 17 2026 - MACI surgery on right knee. He knew of one patella defect and maybe one other. He found 3 defects during the operation that he applied grafts to. Two patella defects and one MFC. I was sent home that day, on oxy for 4 days, and transitioned to NSAIDs for the next two. 6 days post surgery and I was off all pain meds. My recovery notes listed full weight bearing immediately. I was very gentle in weight bearing for three days, and realized the pain/discomfort had completely subsided. Today is day 10 post op and I am off crutches entirely when inside the house. Occasionally my knee will heat up at the end of the day but I elevate and ice with no issues. I also experience almost zero swelling after surgery except for the patella area which has increased fluid near the i vision. This surgical recovery, compared to last year for the meniscus arthroscopy, is wildly easier. Quicker to bear weight, quicker to ditch pain meds, and energy rebounded faster. No real idea why.

My post op appoints to get stitches out, and set up my first PT appt is on 6/29 so I’ll follow up then. Feel free to ask any questions if you have them.

I had my 6 week post-op appt today for patella MACI and surgeon said I can ditch the brace and crutches when I feel up to it! I'm currently using 1 crutch around the house till I feel more stable. Doc was happy with my quad strength. Hopefully it won't take long to get back at it! I'm happy to be done with the CPM machine.

Bad news is that my ROM is only at 105* because I have a lot of scar tissue built up (he didn't seem happy that PT wasn't breaking it up along the way). He showed me how to massage it to try to break it up and he put in an order for a Dynasplint. I have 6 weeks to get it bent as much as my good leg or else he's taking me back to the OR to break it up himself. He also gave me Meloxicam and a steroid to help with the inflammation it will cause. Is this a common thing with MACI?

I’m a couple days shy of 6 weeks post-op MACI patella and lateral release. At PT we’re talking about weaning off the brace and crutches soon (I’ve been hobbling around a little at home practicing). My question is: how am I supposed to follow the directive from the rehab protocol to avoid stairs and inclines? I live in a house with two flights of stairs that I’m up and down quite often. Am I supposed to use crutches on them for 6 months? Am I just living my life but not doing workouts on the stair master? Help! I don’t get it.

Im need of help / advice please! 🙏🏻 🏳️