Total knee replacements typically last approximately 15 years and at that point either the implants will loosen up due to the changes of the the bone around the implant, bone cement loosening, or the polyethylene plastic that was used 15 years ago is wearing out. When it wears out, the debris has to go somewhere. Your body has cells that gobble up debris and release enzymes that destroys bone causing pain, swelling, and the knee not working as well. These people are ideal candidates for knee revision surgery. Knee revision is where we replace the parts that are worn out and use implants that can accommodate their ligaments or bone loss. There are a lot of different types of implants to use, some that have a lot of constraints built in and some that have very little constraint, it all depends on the amount of bone loss and ligaments that are left behind. Recovery for knee revision surgery is slightly longer than a primary knee replacement because the surgery is more extensive. The hospital stay instead of two days is typically three days and the amount of therapy that you need is twice as long than a primary knee replacement. Surgery time can vary due to the parts that the surgeon needs to replace and how easily it is to get the parts that had been used originally. The surgery can take between an hour and a half to three hours. The blood clot and infection risks are higher with revision surgery because of the length of the surgery and the knee has been already operated on. Also people are a little bit older when they are ready for a knee revision. The key is that you’re revising the knee for reasons that you understand. Pain alone is not a reason to revise the knee you have to know the underlying cause. Whether the components have been put in by a surgeon who did not place them in the right spot, things were not balanced well, there is a lot of play in the knee, ligaments have been torn or something has loosened or worn out, or there’s an infection. Once you have a good reason you are likely to have a very good outcome. To perform a knee revision without being specialty trained leads to higher complications.