12 year old son completely torn ACL

by Becky
(Hamilton NY)

My 12 year old son has completely torn his ACL in a football game. Our surgeon wants to do surgery next Wednesday to fix the problem. He will be using a tendons from the hamstring to repair it. He also has a possible LCL partial tear that will be fixed at the same time if it is needed.

I'm so scared that the surgery will alter the growth of his bones after the surgery. Our surgeon has never done this surgery on someone so young with the growth plates still "open". He does approx. 350 ACL surgery's a year on adults. My son is small for his age (85 lbs & 58" tall). He is "researching" on the exact way it should be done. We have total confidence in him as a surgeon for adults as he has operated on my husband and my 21 year old son also.

My question is this. How common is it for this type of surgery in a child? Have you ever heard of this happening in someone so young and if so, what was their outcome? Was the growth of their bones altered in any way? Should we be putting off surgery and finding a pediatric ortho surgeon??