Partial knee replacement: How was your experience?

I had a PKR in 2012. I as told I would never need a full one. About two years ago it started bothering me and now I have severe arthritis in the outer compartment and need a revision to full. I would never have a partial again. In fact, I'm going to have my other knee done and though I only have problems really under the kneecap I'm getting a full replacement.

After having a partial done, several yrs later had to have a full. To me not worth going through the partial. Had a total done on my other knee and never had a problem ,but on the knee that originally was a pkr before having a tkr, have had swelling at times and other problems,

It is almost counter intuitive but partials are more difficult surgeries than full. In my book there are three kinds of knee replacements: full, partial and revisions. My preference is for a surgeon who does all three. My surgeon does.

My surgeon was fairly convinced that I needed a full as the x-rays showed arthritis damage in all three compartments but he told me that he would have a full complement of parts in the operating theater and if a partial looked sensible, he would do it.

My view: do a ton of research in selecting a surgeon. Then trust her. Discuss the options with her and your current and future lifestyle and determine a plan. If she thinks a full makes more sense, do a full; if she thinks a partial would work best for you, then do a partial. You didn't do all this research on finding her to then ignore her advice.

Lindsey Vonn had an HSS surgeon in Florida do her partial and she returned to championship level skiing.