Reply To: Surgery VS Watchful Waiting

[Chaunce1234]

Just to chime in here as a fellow patient, I have read a working theory that, at least with regard to thin/athletic/fit patients, a “hidden hernia” is often basically the early stages of a regular hernia that hasn’t fully formed the traditional bulge yet, but can either be a small amount of intrabdominal fat lodged into the inguinal or femoral canal which compresses a nerve, or even a tear or disruption in the groin muscle from an injury that compresses on a nerve or indirectly pulls on a nerve by yanking on surrounding muscle fibers. The latter is sometimes referred to as “inguinal disruption” or “sports hernia” and is known to be a painful condition.

Anyway, this is clearly a complex topic.

As for patients who desire a non-mesh repair in the USA, it has to be sought out rather specifically because it is not a common procedure despite there being a clear market demand for it. I have posted a list in some other forum threads before with surgeons in the USA who are known to perform non-mesh repair for anyone interested, for most people they will need to travel, often to another state or region of the country.