Hi kaamom,

I know you have a very difficult decision to make and many of us always give advice to think this over very carefully. Sometimes with totally destroyed or deteriorated disc, surgery does become necessary.

I was interested in your last post regarding using fat grafts as replacements for the disc.

I had a bilateral discectomy with no replacements in 97, after ear cartilage replacements failed.

I was told at that time that there was not any type of autogenous grafts that would hold up in the TM joint.

I had not heard of anyone using fat grafts in the TM joint until you mentioned it. I have seen that it's used in several plastic surgery procedures and that 2 surgeons have been using it as packing around metal implants and prosthesis, as they believe this helps the body adjust better to these procedures.

I was curious if your surgeon gave you any further information regarding this procedure. I was told as recent as last fall that there was nothing that would work.

If this is not something you want to discuss, I understand.

I am very interested in what surgeons are doing in other areas and would like to know how long this has been done and the success rate. It sounded like from your post, that this has been a successful procedure for your surgeon and to be honest, I am at a loss as to why this was not offered to me.

Thanks and Good Luck,
Cymy Sue