-
Finding no-mesh inguinal hernia surgeons on west coast?
Doctors I have found regarding the original tissue repair type on this side of the country is follows:
– Dr David Johnson in Palm Springs CA used to work at Shouldice, so one would assume he still does a Shouldice repair if requested?
– Dr Shirin Towfigh in Beverly Hills CA has mentioned on these forums she does a tissue repair in some situations. Perhaps Dr Towfigh can offer her thoughts on this?
– Dr Kevin Petersen in Las Vegas NV advertises on the internet as a no mesh doctor and is mentioned frequently on web forums
– Dr William Brown in Fremont CA does a no mesh repair for inguinal hernias and for sports hernias and is frequently mentioned on web forums
Elsewhere you have Dr Grischkan in Ohio, Dr Tomas in Florida, Dr Meyers in Philadelphia, and Shouldice in Toronto.
Surely there are others too, but who and where is anyones guess. Many are retiring or have retired. The one person I knew who got a no mesh repair somewhat recently had their doctor retire almost immediately after, but they said they only did no mesh on fit patients and only used mesh on obese patients. THEORY: that may be why the tissue repair is becoming much less common, as people are mostly obese now. Shouldice makes you lose weight for example, they will not operate on an obese patient. There are famous sports clinics in Philadelphia and in Germany that are similar, it appears they do tissue repairs on fit patients only.
The questions you want to know of the doctor if you go this route are this:
– Are you eligible for the tissue repair?
– Do you recommend this repair FOR YOUR SPECIFIC CASE and why?
– What is your overall EXPERIENCE with the tissue no mesh repair?
– What are your complications with this repair?
– What is your rate of chronic pain? What is the severity for the patient?
– What is your rate of recurrence?
You don’t want to get a no mesh repair from someone who has only done one once but is willing to try it out on you, you want one from someone who has done many of them, someone who knows the anatomy because its very complex (just look at a medical textbook yourself, most things make sense and are identifiable and then you get to the groin section and suddenly none of it looks like anything and none makes sense, the inguinal region is very complicated) and preferably you want someone who DOES many of them on a regular basis.
If you know of another regular tissue hernia doctor in your area you should add them to the list.