One of the things that makes artificial joint replacement surgery very different than other orthopedic surgeries is the need for lifelong post-operative follow-up. This feature dictates that a qualified joint surgeon must do more post-operative clinical work, and it also means more time and effort on the part of the patient. But why is follow-up necessary, and what is the importance of follow-up? This is something not only not well understood by many patients, but even not yet recognized by many surgeons. I will discuss this issue below. First of all, why do I need follow-up after joint replacement? This is because the artificial joint will be with the patient for life. As long as the patient lives, the joint will not stop moving. The life span of an implanted joint is limited. If something goes wrong with the joint prosthesis, it will need to be treated accordingly to continue to maintain the patient’s joint function. Without follow-up visits to patients who have had their joints replaced, doctors are unable to understand the recovery of the artificial joints after surgery, assess the results of the surgery, detect signs of failure, or avoid difficult problems that could have been avoided. In fact, artificial joints are like a car. As we all know, after a certain number of miles, a car needs regular maintenance to check and maintain its important structures in order to reduce the number of problems that occur during use and to extend the life of the car. Artificial joints are much simpler than cars, but because they are located in the human body, they are actually much more complex than cars, and therefore require more delicate maintenance than cars, which is regular clinical follow-up. It can be said that systematic post-operative follow-up provides the best guarantee for the ultimate success of an artificial joint replacement. Secondly, what are the post-operative follow-up visits? Post-operative follow-up is usually performed in an outpatient setting. Because of the large number of patients and the limited time available in general outpatient clinics, it is best to have a special clinic for post-operative follow-up of the artificial joint. During the follow-up visit, the surgeon needs to listen carefully to the patient’s subjective and self-perceived changes that have occurred since the last follow-up visit, as well as the patient’s satisfaction with symptom improvement and functional recovery (including goals that were not achieved after surgery). The patient is then carefully examined for joint mobility and functional parameters, and a postoperative functional score (e.g., hip Harris score and knee Knee Society score) is completed. In addition, the surgeon routinely takes an x-ray of the artificial joint and analyzes it against previous films or films to determine whether there are signs of long-term complications such as prosthetic wear, periprosthetic osteolysis, prosthetic loosening, or even intra-articular infection. Finally, the doctor will provide advice and guidance on the next stage of the patient’s rehabilitation based on the comprehensive results of the follow-up visit. The doctor will record the details of the follow-up visit and keep it as a long-term document. The whole follow-up process is a very formal, systematic and rigorous clinical work. However, due to the lack of attention to clinical follow-up by many doctors, this important work has not been carried out well for a long time. Finally, I would like to urge that post-operative follow-up needs to be highly valued and supported by both physicians and patients. As a physician, you should take the initiative to follow up with your post-arthroplasty patients on a regular basis, not just after the surgery. As a patient, you should take the initiative to cooperate with the doctor’s request for follow-up, not only when there is discomfort to follow up, no problem when they do not want to follow up (this is also a common problem in patients, mainly due to the doctor’s own lack of attention, not to educate patients). I encountered many patients in the clinic, since the surgery was done and lost contact with the doctor, did not do a checkup, did not take a film, and when they came back to the doctor several years later when they realized that there was a problem with the joint, it was already difficult for the doctor to deal with it, because there were complications such as severe wear and tear, large pieces of osteolysis and prosthesis loosening and even displacement, although it is possible to do revision surgery again, but the difficulty of surgery and The failure rate increases dramatically and the cost of treatment for the patient often skyrockets. In fact, all of this could have been avoided. Even if the artificial joint eventually fails, early detection of the problem through regular follow-up can lead to a much higher success rate and a significantly improved prognosis, thus minimizing the risk of leaving the surgeon with a difficult operation and adding more pain and waste to the patient. This is the greatest significance of post-operative follow-up. If you are a patient after artificial joint surgery, after reading this article, please first see if you have been followed up over the years? Has the surgeon who performed your surgery ever reached out to you? If you have lost contact with your surgeon, please come see me in my specialist clinic (every Thursday) or in my specialized clinic (every Monday afternoon). I am willing to provide systematic clinical follow-up for all patients who have lost contact with their surgeon.