I am going to have hernia repair surgery (abdominal) within the next couple of months. My favorite late night television channel runs a lot of medical malpractice ads – many of them for complications of hernia surgery due to the use of mesh. It appears that mesh failures were occurring as recently as 2016.
I am not thrilled with my surgeon. He is a hospital surgeon who did an emergency surgery on me that resulted in the hernia. He may very well be an excellent surgeon, but he doesn’t seem to be invested in me as a human being. Unfortunately, every other surgeon I’ve consulted recommended that I return to the original surgeon for the hernia repair.
I asked the surgeon about mesh, and he told me he would do the surgery with or without mesh, my choice, but mesh was the recommended procedure. He said that mesh had been improved (it now has a larger grid than it used to). He did not mention absorbable / non-absorbable mesh, which I subsequently learned about online.
So I’m seeking to hear from Dopers who’ve had hernia surgery or know someone who has. Mesh or no mesh? Problems or no problems? All advice and opinions are welcome.
I don’t understand why other surgeons are saying to go back to him when clearly you’re not comfortable with him. I suspect it has more to do with the medical culture than your actual care. If you don’t want him to do the work, maybe try being more insistent with the other surgeons. Or go someplace else.
What I’ve been told is that every surgeon has their own way of doing things and that the original surgeon will know what he did and the best way to repair / modify it.
One other surgeon told me that he would do the repair surgery but it would be a more complicated surgery than if the original surgeon did it because the second surgeon would have to cut and poke around to discover what had been done.
No matter who does the hernia repair, I still have to decide on mesh or no mesh.
I believe that I had the mesh, but I really cannot remember. No complications.
I think the important question is whether you trust his skills, and I wouldn’t invest too much in his manner of dealing with you. I’ve rarely met a surgeon with a warm bedside manner. It’s just not part of what makes them good at their jobs.
I got the mesh with my umbilical hernia repair in 2013, after doing a little research. What worried me was that the original mesh had a bit of a reputation for killing people, but I was told that I was getting the new, softer mesh, and should have no problem, unless I gained “too much” weight.
Well, I did gain some weight, and when I lay on my side in bed, I could sometimes feel some discomfort around what I suspect was the periphery of the mesh, as though the extra weight was trying to tear the mesh out at the edges.
I’ve since lost weight, and have had no further problems. Overall, I’m happy with the surgery. And you should see my new bellybutton; it’s so beautiful, it really deserves its own cable TV channel.
I had an inguinal hernia repair when I was 15 (around 2004) and well within the scope of those malpractice ads… Never had a problem with it, it supposedly acts as some sort of graft to help the muscles grow again, then it becomes a reinforcing object. It is supposed to prevent recurrence.
I had an inguinal hernia repair in 1996, and I believe they used a Kevlar mesh. About e days post-surgery I ended up with Influenza (the real flu) and an infection and likely pulled the mesh from coughing. It took about 5 years for the discomfort to completely disappear
I had an umbilical hernia repair back in 2010; used the mesh. No problems.
Three years later, the same surgeon removed about 8 inches of large intestine (they saw something during a colonoscopy they didn’t like; turned out not to be remarkable). I asked him if he had to cut through the mesh he put in a few years earlier, he said that, yes, he did.
I haven’t had any issues with either procedure. It was my understanding that they used no mesh to put me back together. I mean, if he had to cut through the mesh, what good is it anymore?
Rule of thumb is nobody wants to touch a mess somebody else created. If it gets worse the doc who touched it last is most likely to get sued even if he/she did heroic measures mostly fixing an earlier semi-botched job done by somebody else.
How realistic that concern is remains an open question to me. But IME dealing with several docs closely for a long time, that seems to be the prevailing attitude. Note this is almost entirely about surgeons, not docs of other sorts.
Had one with mesh late last year. My wife is an NP who works in surgery, she hooked me up with a great surgeon. I still got unlucky and had complications. It happens, no big deal. Sharp, stabbing (incapacitating) pain from one of the tacks holding the mesh. It wasn’t incapacitating at first, still painful, but I aggravated it when trying to rush to help my four year old because he was screaming as though being murdered (only to find out he was crying over something completely stupid.) Anyway, the tack eventually dissolved and the pain largely went away. I still feel a little prick in there every once in a while, and can feel a tug on the mesh when I do new/heavy movements. It’s less and less the more I exercise/do stuff. I’d do it again.
I had a friend who needed a prior surgery that had failed corrected. I gave him the name of the guy who removed my gallbladder and who I’m friends with socially. Next time I saw the doc, he apologized for turning away my referral. His exact words, “I don’t wanna deal with someone else’s fuckup”.
ETA: a friend of mine had to travel 80 miles to find a lawyer willing to represent her when she divorced her husband, the judge.
I had a mesh put in for an epigastric hernia (right in the middle above the navel) a couple of years ago and I’ve been to the lawyer website to see if it applies to me. The problems described at the website are all far worse than mine but you might be interested.
There were more problems with the surgery than the mesh. My digestion went from iron stomach before the operation to daily queasiness and grinding stomach after. For two years now. I went back to the surgeon who just shrugged and suggested yogurt. Something had to be done about the hernia at the time, I was in pain, but if I knew then what I know now I would have asked a lot more questions and perhaps taken a better look at the doctor . What will happen to my gut bacteria? Will there be scar tissue and if so where? What will it feel like if there’s damage?
I’ve read that the best surgeons do not use mesh for hernia repair (at least for sports hernia), preferring to open a larger wound for deeper exploration and repair. I don’t know how that practice may differ for other types of hernias.
Shiftless: Would you provide a link to “the lawyer website”? Thanks.
Everyone: What was your post-surgery like? How long did you have to stay in the hospital? How quickly were you able to get out of bed (like to walk to the bathroom)? Did you go straight home from the hospital or did you have to stay in a rehab place? Could you take care of yourself once you were home? Will I need a visiting home nurse?
I was able to go home the same day. The next week was sluggish. Couldn’t cough, push when on the john, or make sudden movements. Not the worst pain, just lack of mobility for a bit is what amplifies it. Took about a month before I could jog again. Not the worst experience though. My type of hernia was right on the middle of everything that moved though. Oddly enough, an appendectomy a couple years later required 2 days in hospital and a lot of marijuana for the pain (age 17. I refuse to take opioids to this day. Too dangerous IMHO). This wasn’t the case for hernia repair. In comparison. Hernia repair was nothing at all… give it a couple days to a week of shuffling around (ALL you can do really) and some bed rest and the major parts of the pain will turn into an ache that is pretty easy to deal with.
Forgot to add. Yes you will be able to take care of yourself just fine. Get everything you need downstairs though. You won’t like walking up them. No heavy lifting. More than 15lbs IIRC.
