Feedback regarding Dr. William Brown, MD in Freemont CA

[dog]

quote drtowfigh:

For bilateral inguinal hernias, consider also laparoscopic option. Better outcomes and lower recurrence rates.

Can that be done with No mesh ?

[Chaunce1234]

quote active_runner:

Thanks for all of the input!

[USER=”1916″]Chaunce1234[/USER] I did talk with Dr. Brown about the cremaster muscle. He said that since I am fairly lean that it’s likely that the muscle is not bulky and that he will not need to remove much if any of it. I have no idea how accurate this is though.

[USER=”2520″]Topochico[/USER] the “tailored repair” is my description. I asked him how he determines which open non-mesh repair to use (he describes the various options on his website). He indicated that it depends on the type of hernia, the size, the quality of the tissue, etc. Based on this he will choose a method, or a hybrid approach. Interestingly, he indicated that if my hernia is indirect that the solution is quite simple. Unfortunately I think mine are direct. Good point about asking how he would treat chronic pain. I can’t find much of anything about him in regards to standard inguinal hernia surgery. It appears that he is an accomplished sports hernia doc and considering that those repairs are in the same location and often in the same tissues, I have to imagine that would translate.. Does that seem reasonable to you?

[USER=”935″]drtowfigh[/USER] I am trying to avoid mesh. I’m young enough and lean enough that the long term effects scare me and the more I read the more I think this fear is very rational. I read somewhere that you do a lap procedure using natural tissue, is that true?

Thanks for the added info. Any idea what Dr Browns recurrence rate has been with his tailored approach?

If you are not sure if the hernias are direct or indirect, often an ultrasound valsava can reveal that information.

You could always ask the Dr directly if you can speak to any former patients, I am not sure if that is allowed due to HIPAA privacy laws but it may be worth a shot.

[Topochico]

[USER=”2373″]active_runner[/USER] the indirect vs direct does make sense to me. As I mentioned earlier he does appear to claim that roughly half of his surgeries are performed on hernias vs sports hernias.

[Unknown Member]

Thanks for all of the input!

[USER=”1916″]Chaunce1234[/USER] I did talk with Dr. Brown about the cremaster muscle. He said that since I am fairly lean that it’s likely that the muscle is not bulky and that he will not need to remove much if any of it. I have no idea how accurate this is though.

[USER=”2520″]Topochico[/USER] the “tailored repair” is my description. I asked him how he determines which open non-mesh repair to use (he describes the various options on his website). He indicated that it depends on the type of hernia, the size, the quality of the tissue, etc. Based on this he will choose a method, or a hybrid approach. Interestingly, he indicated that if my hernia is indirect that the solution is quite simple. Unfortunately I think mine are direct. Good point about asking how he would treat chronic pain. I can’t find much of anything about him in regards to standard inguinal hernia surgery. It appears that he is an accomplished sports hernia doc and considering that those repairs are in the same location and often in the same tissues, I have to imagine that would translate.. Does that seem reasonable to you?

[USER=”935″]drtowfigh[/USER] I am trying to avoid mesh. I’m young enough and lean enough that the long term effects scare me and the more I read the more I think this fear is very rational. I read somewhere that you do a lap procedure using natural tissue, is that true?

[drtowfigh]

For bilateral inguinal hernias, consider also laparoscopic option. Better outcomes and lower recurrence rates.

[Chaunce1234]

Just out of curiosity; Have you already been diagnosed with inguinal hernias? Or a sports hernia? Are you experiencing groin pain or another primary symptom? What is your age? Are you thin or overweight?

Did you ask Dr Brown about the impact of his hernia repair on the cremaster muscle?

As for cremaster, I believe it usually depends on the repair type itself, and I am not sure what type of non-mesh hernia surgery he performs. I know it is considered routine to cut the cremaster muscle in a typical Shouldice hernia repair as it becomes part of the tissue repair itself, but I think they usually re-attach the remainder of the muscle a bit higher up so that the testicle does not dangle too low. It’s an understandable concern, but at least at the Shouldice clinic in Toronto they seem to know what they’re doing with it since they have such excellent results with recurrence and a lack of chronic pain.

As for Dr Brown, I recall a prior post on these forums about various athletic forums where surgeries with him were discussed, but they might be sports hernias. Of course some assumed ‘sports hernias’ end up being an inguinal hernia, so there could be some crossover there.

Keep us updated on your findings, progress, and decision making.

[Topochico]

EDIT:
found a couple of dissatisfied customers:
http://www.wasatchandbeyond.com/2014…ery-2.html?m=1

EDIT 2:
found the runners blog who had surgery with dr Brown:
http://alansmiles.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-12-04T09:58:00-08:00&max-results=12&start=120&by-date=false&m=1

I believe I read that dr brown claims he does 50/50 hernia/sports hernia repairs. I don’t know of many doctors that tailor repairs to the patient, sounds cool but also worrying. I read some press release from his office that he does 200 repairs a year, so if half of those are hernias and he had multiple repairs to choose from. What happens if he does one of the lesser used repairs on you?

food for thought. I haven’t seen any concrete bad things about him. He’s very nice, very responsive. I can’t remember the forum but I’ve seen 1 person say his wife had a bad surgery with dr Brown. And another forum a person mentioned they had heard from 2 of his previous patients to not bother with him. I can’t say if any of that is true, and have no info on what procedures they had done.

To me, Dr Brown seems like one of the best choices in the US for hernia/groin surgery. I would personally ask him more about how he will treat you if you do get chronic pain from surgery (many don’t want anything to do with you afterwards) and id probably ask him about the multiple technique approach and raise the concern mentioned earlier.

Like I said Dr Brown seems great. No mesh, experienced surgeon, focused on the groin, believe he is a BC vascular surgeon too. Many more positives than negatives. Oh and to add to that there was a long blog series by a patient of his (sorry no link handy). The guy got back to running A LOT and recovered tremendously

[Jnomesh]

Hi. I can’t offer a whole lot except that I was strongly considering dr. Brown to remove a defected hernia mesh and repair the hernia without mesh. He is one of only a few surgeons in the US that not only has major concern with mesh but who has the expertise to repair hernias the old fashion way. Like you I spoke to him and he even gave me his cell phone to call him anytime great bed side manner.
i think the only place I’d put ahead of him is the shouldice hospital in Canada. There stats show a less than 1% recurrence rate and less than 1% chronic pain not sure how you can go wrong with those stats except that it is in a different country.
there is dr. Kevin Peterson in Las Vegas and if you are on the east coast there is a surgeon in LI dr. Samer Sbayi at Stoney brook who studie at the shouldice hospital and touts over 650 of these shouldice repairs.
but dr. Brown seems like a great choice. I’m glad you are avoiding mesh-my mesh ended up folding up and causing debilitating pain.