I have cartilage damage in my patella femoral joint, grade 3 in nature, my surgeon said if i can live with the pain i should but i could also consider maci surgery, would it be worth it to consider maci surgery. i am so frustrated with the pain?

Mega patella OCA: Isolated patellar high grade (3 and 4) chondral lesions can be treated by fresh matched for size osteochondral allograft (OCA) transplantation surgery. The patellar cartilage is like a double stuffed Oreo- it is twice as thick as most of the other knee cartilage. Replacing a lesion with actual fresh donated patellar OCA plug has been performed for over 20 years. I do several every week.

Injections: There are also injections that can be tried before surgery. There is also a procedure to decrease force to kneecap by cutting and moving a part of the tibia (osteotomy) that can work well.