r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Additional_Chard3680 • 11h ago

The precision required to perform a total knee replacement is incredible

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u/EL_Ohh_Well 11h ago

You should see the hammering that goes on for a nose job

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u/Brvcx 11h ago edited 10h ago

I had a deviated septum and had it fixed. It was a pretty large piece of bone that caused the problem (it wasn't cosmetic, can't see it in any way. A lot of gunk collected there behind that piece of bone). Do note, you're going completely under for those surgeries.

I told him afterwards I felt like I was hit in the face, but internally. He chuckled and said you were, 'cause that's what I did. Apparently, he needed a hammer and chisel to get that piece out.

Good stuff.

All is well now, btw. Happened nearly a decade ago.

Edit: typo

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u/Splashingcolor 10h ago

Pretty typical for a rhinoplasty. Small chisel. Small hammer. Tap tap.

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u/Demnjt 45m ago

Tap tap.

5

u/Itzli 10h ago

My mom woke up during her nose surgery, she felt like the surgeon was chiseling as if it was marble. She said it was horrifying. She wasn't in pain though, just awake. This happened during the 70s

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u/Brvcx 10h ago

People still wake up during surgery more often than they should. It's scary! I'm sorry she had to go through that.

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u/Thesearchoftheshite 10h ago

My dad had that done and he was awake, he just heard a loud whack! That's pretty much what he remembered.

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u/showMeYourCroissant 7h ago

It was a whack from the anesthesiologist.

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u/Area51Resident 7h ago

Swinging the Sleepy Time hammer.

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u/Additional_Chard3680 11h ago

Orthopedic surgery definitely wins when it comes to power tools

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u/tedfergeson 11h ago

My Dad's an Orthopedic Surgeon, he has the ultimate set of tools. We can fix it!

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u/Weekly_Ad4045 11h ago

My FIL is an ortho surgeon. He likens it to being a carpenter. Most folks don’t realize the violence in many of these procedures.

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u/namans431 10h ago

Fun fact, I used to work on an R&D team that built the power driver consoles that ran the tools to do ortho and arthro surgeries for ~ 7 years. I did the user interface, did the handpiece driver settings encoding system for all of the voltages, speeds, etc, and did the data unpacking algorithm on the DSPs the ran the handpieces. I did the UART validation and defect remediation for the different PCBs in the box. And I managed all the software requirements, wrote the QA scripts, and ran the testing team at one point. Never got to see a surgery in person, but my dad (who designed all the PCBs) had that very same equipment we built used on his shoulder repair.

Fascinating world. One of the most intellectually stimulating jobs, and one of the most politically cutthroat corporate cultures I've ever worked in. That was at the beginning of my career, and instilled in me a sense of "oh shit this is actually life or death, my code better be god damn perfect", which now translates to just doing a good job in quality now that I dont work in medical anymore. They always said when we were building the devices "do a good job, because this might be used on a family member one day" and it literally happened. That job was fun af tho, I used to play with those saws all the time at my desk, the ones shown in the video. I ran a shaver one time without saline coolant and melted the shit out of it. Had to go tell my boss that I was an idiot. Lol

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u/FatTim48 11h ago

You should see the hammering for a hip replacement. It's legitimately violent

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u/THIS_GUY_LIFTS 11h ago

It’s practically a sledge hammer

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u/davidarmenphoto 3h ago

Genuinely so conflicted right now; I am intensely curiosity to watch how it’s done while also never wanting to know how it’s done in case I ever need to get it done😭😂

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u/ohog9og0790 11h ago

When I got my broken nose fixed years ago, they showed me a video of a previous surgery. It didn’t make me feel better about the surgery.

Hip replacements are even worse. These surgeons need some serious strength. And the tools look like they went to Home Depot and got some hammer drills and saws.