A new synthetic cartilage implant — tested in an FDA trial.

I'm going to wear heels to my wedding. I'm going to be able to dance with my family, walk down the aisle, and I know that my knee is not going to hurt. My name's Amanda. I'm a very active person. I like to play soccer, go hiking, go running, do Pilates, and I was on a soccer league and a women's volleyball league. I first tore my ACL in 2021, and the recovery was rough, but I was able to recover from it and actually go back to playing soccer. And then, of course, a few games in, I tore the cartilage on my femur, got an OATS procedure, but unfortunately, that didn't go well either, and the pain never went away. I heard about HSS through a friend who had a good experience here. Dr. Gomoll saw my MRI from the previous surgery, which was a year and a half ago, so it should have actually been feeling a lot better, and he said that I had a lot of edema around the graft that they put in. My body didn't take it. He said that they're doing a Hyalex clinical study and that he thought that I would be a good candidate for that. Instead of a cadaver bone, it would be titanium, and the body takes really well to that. They would basically remove a piece of the femur and cartilage, and then replace it with the titanium Hyalex implant. He understood that I wanted to get back to running and soccer and sports if I could, so when he explained the Hyalex as an option, it kind of gave me a little bit of hope that maybe I could go back to sports and I wouldn't be in pain. The OATS was a very difficult recovery because my leg had to be in extension in a leg brace the entire time, and that made it really difficult to recover because the muscle atrophied so much. With the Hyalex, I did not need the brace in extension, I didn't need the brace at all, and I was able to move it and bend it the entire time. And that made physical therapy a lot easier and my recovery way faster. I was already doing 10,000 steps at 4 months, I was lunging, squatting, so I'm really excited to be able to do impact activities and running especially, and hopefully getting back to sports. And I am also getting married very soon, so I'm excited to be able to walk down the aisle with no pain and be able to dance with my family and just enjoy the time without worrying about any knee pain. I had a great experience with Dr. Gomoll and his team. They were always available to answer any questions, and he just made me feel really comfortable the entire time.