Activity

Dr. Brown has written about how there is a certain level of knowledge and skill required to understand how to do diagnostic injections and how to interpret the results.

Related to my first post – if the surgeon is not inclined to remove the mesh if it is determined to be the problem then they will not have mesh removal in mind as an option.…[Read more]

Dr. Brown -thank you so much for the response! Just 2 questions:

1. In your estimation, is my situation complicated because its uncommon (2 hernias in the inguinal region)? Asking so I have some background on how local surgeons may view this case, as I have nothing to compare it to.

2. Is non-mesh something you recommend in general? Or does…[Read more]

Dear D.
the risk for incarceration is small, so if the hernia is asymptomatic then it certainly does not need to be repaired at this time. If you take 100 patients with an asymptomatic hernia, in 18 months about half of the patients will decide to have the hernia repair because of symptoms.
if you travel to 3rd world countries a lot, that would be…[Read more]

Dear Angela.
Your situation is more complicated than usual. I would advise you to go to the University of Toronto and see a surgeon in the department surgery. I would also advise you to strongly consider a non-mesh repair if surgery is required.
Kind regards.
Bill Brown MD

I have had 2 cts scans of the abdomen and I am told there is nothing out of the ordinary with them . I had shots done that involved steroids and a numbing agent. The first was somewhat helpful for maybe a week or so. The second provided no relief. I also was on gabapentin twice a day and if anything it may have been worse while on that. I didn’t…[Read more]

Dear Luke.
The ultrasound should be done while you are standing with a Valsalva maneuver.
Both sides should be examined.
Most medical schools will have well-trained technicians and radiologists.
Regards.
Bill Brown MD

Dear Timothy.
Your symptoms are more extensive than I would expect.
You should have imaging tests to evaluate for a recurrent hernia and scarring of the mesh.
Diagnostic injections can be very helpful.
for example, if you have an ilioinguinal and iliohypogastric nerve block in your symptoms improve that would be evidence that these nerves are a…[Read more]

Thanks a lot for all these Replies they are all really helpful.
I read about Dr. Koch and Dr. Reinpold in this forum and I will keep them in mind too. I can’t find a post here with an operation experience with Dr. Muschaweck because she seems more expensive than most of the other surgeons but maybe I would still try it.

When I choose a surgeon…[Read more]

Thanks a lot for the info! Yes, I am actually starting thinking too that even if a company came along with the perfect mesh, if it is not one of the bigs ones chances are the product will go forgotten quickly…..

I have done physical therapy, meds and injections all to no real avail. The tramadol helps at times but I don’t really like using it. It throws me off for the rest of the day. Thanks for the link. I will go through them and see if I can’t find anything.

Sorry for the extra commentary alephy. It does look though like they have not made much progress with that material. If I’m reading Google Scholar correctly it hasn’t even been cited.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?as_vis=0&q=Laparoscopic+Repair+of+Inguinal+Hernia+with+Biomimetic+Matrix&hl=en&as_sdt=1,48

Here is their web page. The paper you showed was published in 2012. It doesn’t look like they’ve done much with it.

Overview

It wouldn’t be a surprise if they just could not compete with the big synthetic mesh companies. Johnson & Johnson, and BD, and the others. Plastic mesh is much cheaper than anything else out there.…[Read more]

Neurectomy is supposed to be a last resort. There is quite a bit on the site about the topic. I searched Google to find the herniatalk threads, link below. Going directly to triple neurectomy seems like malpractice but that’s how things are today. Your surgeon will say they tried and send you off to pain management with your new…[Read more]

It was an open with mesh. Not sure of the mesh that was used :/ I was able to get a second opinion from another surgeon who does hernia surgery and he agreed with the first. Just exploring more options.