The uses of implantable medical devices are safer and more common since sterilization methods and techniques were established a century ago; however, device-associated infections (DAIs) are still frequent and becoming a leading complication as the number of medical device implantations keeps increasing. This urges the world to develop instructive prevention and treatment strategies for DAIs, producing a publication boom on the design of antibacterial surfaces for implantable medical devices. To help identify the flaws of our current antibacterial designs and advance their clinical translations, the clinical features of DAIs are recently highlighted by Huiliang Cao et al [1].