Hi there i haven't yet had surgery but on monday 24th this month i will be undergoing TTT, arthoscopy and possible MPFL. Im 22 years old since age of 14 ive felt my knee pain worsen and worsen stopping me from enjoying all the activities i love to do. Im a keen horse rider and work in a playgroup with 2 to 4 year olds so im always on my feet too. I also tried PT but found it worsened my knee rather than helping.

I chose to have surgery because although im terrifed of the idea of it and recovery i will have to be honest the idea of carrying on with the pain i have unable to enjoy life how i want to seems alot scarier to me. I know there is only a 75% chance my surgery will work and there has already shown some mind puzzling results in my CT scans but i feel i have to try it. I think my consultant said my left knee was 19mm out and my right 16mm out although i dont feel any pain in my right one. So i think that if the least the operation will do is to realigne my knee then least i wont me any more damage to it. If i still feel pain i can cope with that now i know the reason for it.

Im sure you will get alot more informative replies but if i was you i would defiantly go for it...life is about living!

Hiya!
I am also similar to you all, but I am just a tad younger. I have only ever had a problem with one of my knees though, and for that I am extremely fortunate. I had LR surgery last year to re-align my knee after many, many dislocations. The emphasise after this surgery was definitely PT to get the muscles working in the right place to hold the knee in. I didn't have success with this surgery though unfortunately.
I am now just over 4 weeks post-op from an MPFL Reconstruction and at the moment Im not doing very well but I am still early days so I am hoping things will improve. 

I am sorry to hear that you are having such a bad time with your knees. All in all though, I would say that if the surgery is done for the right reasons then it will be successful. You need to make sure that you have a skilled surgeon who knows all about knees- I know that sounds silly as you will be seeing them about your knees, but some surgeons do general surgery.
I would say that it would be very worth going to see a surgeon to see what they think. As PT doesnt seem to be working and your dislocations are getting more severe, I would say that surgery is really your only option now.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do!
Summer

--@veganbee, if you dont mind me asking, is the reason why a TTT, MPFL and so forth won't work due to the fact you have a shallow/ not grooved trochlear?

Curious...what has your OS said as to what type of surgery would be done or have you not yet consulted with an OS?  Different surgeons have different approaches so make sure you ask a lot of questions, get a lot of answers, and visit with at least 2 different OS, just to be sure info is accurate.  I've had multiple types of surgeries...the first few weren't needed due to the actual 'cause' of the issues not being accurately diagnosed and the lateral releases I had done actually made things worse so those had to be reversed so...as self-advocate and get as much info as possible to make the best decision!

Keep us posted!

Hi all

My story is also very similar, dislocating constantly since age 12, eventually had TTTs on both knees (first one at 27 years old) after failed LR & MR and I have never looked back, my knees have not dislocated once since the surgery, the first one I had done is now starting to give me some bother with slight subluxing but I've had about 17 good years out of that one and the other one is still doing okay.  I also have trochlear dysplasia, pretty much flat trochlear grooves, but my surgeon said that the TTT would still work and thankfully it did.  I was back to pretty much normal after about 6 months although I still cannot kneel because of the screws but that's a small price to pay for stopping the dislocations which were ruining my life.  My problem now is with OA, I'm hanging on for as long as I can before going for TKRs, if I'd had the surgery sooner then possibly my OA might not be as bad as it is which is something to bear in mind if you are doubting having the surgery, the longer you leave it whilst still dislocating then obviously the more damage you are doing to your cartilage and you can end up with major problems later in life like me, I now have severe OA in both knees, both hips and one ankle and I'm only 44!!.