Yes Knee Can: ACL Surgery Recovery » patella tendon scar

Picture: ACL Scar Update

yeskneecan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:15:17 +0000

I haven’t posted a pic–or a post–in a while. Sorry for the delay. I’ve been too busy rehabbin’! I promise to be more active, especially since I am entering six-months post-op and the home stretch for my first post-op ski trip at the end of Jan.

Here’s what my knee looks like these days. It’s slightly bent in the picture, so it’s a little more white than usual. Hopefully it will go “clear” soon.

Six months post-op ACL scar

3rd Surgeon Visit Recap

yeskneecan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:51:05 +0000

This morning I saw my surgeon for my 3rd follow-up appointment. It’s been two months and one day since he sliced my knee and reconstructed my ACL and repaired my lateral meniscus. Here’s the stats and fun facts:

-I can start running, but just straight forward stuff; my meniscus isn’t ready for side-to-side, hard-core excercise just yet.

-I can return to sports in four more months … I missed last ski season and I’m determined for this one! Already thinking Tahoe, Park City for Sundance and Verbier, Switzerland. (Yeskneecan keep its eye on the prize!)

-The “numbness” I am still feeling on the right side of my knee is NOT from the nerve block, it’s from my patellar tendon incision. This may never go away, but unless I’m shaving my legs, I don’t notice that it’s numb–oxy moron?

-Quad muscle definition is good–everytime I am standing in line for something, I do “catwalk-model-pose stretches.” Think of the models at the end of the runway–hand on hip, with one leg bent and the other in hyper flex mode. That’s me, minus the 5’10 height and 00 dress size.

-Bending at 125 degrees

-Extending at 1 degree hyper extension

-Scar is still pink, slightly puffy

Healing Your ACL Scars

yeskneecan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:25:51 +0000

The proof is in the pictures. Can’t say enough about how I’m pleased with using Mederma–I’m just a fan, that’s all, and there’s nothing wrong with hope in a liquid gel that takes the damage away by using onion extract as an active ingredient. (I just checked their site and you can download a $2 coupon.) Either way, scarring is a hot topic with people, women especially. I have heard of people who avoid the surgery b/c the scars. Besides vitamin E, I’ve heard petroleum jelly is just as effective and a lot less expensive. Read more Mederma pros/cons here.

These pics were taken about 2-3 weeks apart.

ACL Scar Update

yeskneecan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:15:41 +0000

Time again for more grusome, yet wonderfully intriging photos of my still-swollen and semi-scarred knee. (Stay tuned for the pictures of the inside of my knee that I just got from the doctor.)

I often get asked the simple question, “Does your knee hurt?” Of course it does. Pain meds can mask most of it, but when I bend it sometimes, I feel like my stitches will pop right out, even though most of them are gone. The remaining stitches in my leg will dissolve. As of now, I still have two small scars with steri-strips over them waiting to heal. One scar (the major one) is over my patella tendon. I’m predicting it will end up being about 2 inches long. The other is on the right side of my knee. This one is about one inch long. This week I hope to rip all of the steri-strips off, but I know there’s still a bit more healing that needs to take place. But for now, I managed to take two out of the five steri-strips off of my patella tendon scar site. Please ignore the cheesy floor tiles. I take all my own pics.