Patient Experience
I'm a 72-year-old retired teacher with advanced osteoarthritis in both knees. For years, I accepted pain as my normal. My daughter insisted I see Prof. Sokucu. What struck me first was how he listened, not just to my symptoms, but to my life. He explained that a bilateral knee replacement wasn't just about walking; it was about gardening, playing with grandkids, and reclaiming independence. The surgery at Medical Park Göztepe was flawless. His team used a personalized kinematic alignment technique he developed. Six months later, I'm walking 5km daily. He doesn't just fix joints; he restores futures.
Our 8-year-old son, Ali, took a bad fall from his bicycle, resulting in a complex supracondylar humerus fracture, his elbow was severely displaced. The ER referred us to Prof. Sokucu in a panic. He met us with astonishing calm, explaining the urgent need for surgery to avoid nerve damage. What followed was masterful. In the OR, he performed a closed reduction with percutaneous pinning, avoiding a large scar. He spoke to Ali about superheroes during prep, completely disarming his fear. At the follow-up, Ali's range of motion was perfect. Prof. Sokucu handles a child's fear with the same skill as the fracture.
As a 45-year-old marathon runner, a routine MRI for persistent hip pain revealed a torn labrum and early femoral acetabular impingement. I saw three surgeons who recommended immediate arthroscopy. Prof. Sokucu presented a radically different plan. He argued my biomechanics were the root cause, not just the tear. He prescribed a 3-month targeted physiotherapy regimen first, saying, 'Let's try to make you stronger without surgery. If we operate, we operate on a stronger you.' It worked. The pain resolved. At my last visit, he analyzed my running gait on video. He's a thinker who sees the whole system, not just the scan.
This was no routine case. I was in a motorcycle accident, suffering a comminuted open tibia fracture (Gustilo Type IIIA). The initial surgery elsewhere failed, leading to infection and non-union. I was facing amputation. Prof. Sokucu took on my salvage case. His strategy was a staged masterpiece: first, radical debridement and an antibiotic cement spacer. Then, after eradicating the infection, a complex Ilizarov bone transport procedure to regenerate 6cm of missing bone. For 9 months, he adjusted the frame himself at every visit, never delegating. The emotional support was as critical as the surgical skill. Today, I walk on my own leg. He is an artist of the impossible.