I had a PTR in 2021 that failed the first time they got me up after the surgery. My knee dislocated with leg looking like a zig zag and very painful. Nurses saw nothing wrong with me screaming in pain because the knee was dislocated. Every time I extended the leg the knee would dislocate again and it was painful, not to say the nerve damage that was occurring.

Doc kept telling me it would get in place with scar tissue, which never happened. Three months after the PTK failure he did a TKR - he waited the three months because Medicare would have considered the botched PTK something that should be fixed by him, and not pay for it. This I found out later.

Doc made a BIG point of showing me the knee x-ray was correct after 2nd operation, like I would know. Three months later I still couldn't sleep because of the damaged nerves and was having problems with balancing even though the therapist said I had gotten my range back. All this surgeon wanted to do was the other knee. It was the first thing he would ask at my follow up visits, "so, when do you want the other knee done." I could barely walk 8 months later and asked for more therapy to help me as I felt the leg was weak and strange tingly, pins, needles feeling. Jerk told me he would hold off on any additional therapy UNTIL after the other knee was done!

That was it. Went to a doc, well recommended, who told me PTK's have a high failure rate. That no one should tell me when to have surgery on the other knee. And, importantly, though the first guy got the TKR in right, there were several things that should have been done differently regarding the bone grafting.

And all that pain, not feeling my leg from the knee down, how it would hurt so bad I couldn't touch it or put it down to sleep? That was because so much nerve damage was done in the two operations the nerves never healed, and never will.

So, if I were you I would get a second opinion and probably go with the TKR.