Inguinal hernia mesh removal

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thank you

[drtowfigh]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

I disagree with the statement that it is unsafe to remove mesh. It for sure has its complications. Thus, best outcomes are with those surgeons who perform this procedure on a regular basis.

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thank you

[drtowfigh]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Please search the posts on this site.

I presented my data at a recent surgical society conference. Over 80% of patients had cure of their pre operative symptoms without need for further procedures.

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Hello
I wonder if some of the Surgeons on the forum can speak to the pro’s and cons of removing inguinal hernia mesh for chronic pain. Thank you

[Beenthere]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

i understand the feelings you have and feel for you. Everyone thinks and says it is just a hernia. I did not like discussing it, I think one is the location and second no one believes you on how bad can the pain be and life changing. I was bounced around to 7 doctors, OT, PT, ART, acupuncture, Reiki, graston, message, pain management, drugs, nerve blocks, lidocaine infusion all to find no relief. I think I might be missing a couple of other treatments.

Without answers to how, why, what is wrong and any course of fixing it by my world renowned hospital and Doctors I was lost. Your life changes completely everything suffers. I did get into pain management group sessions to discuss on how to live with disabling pain for the rest of my life. Everyone in the group you could see the problems they were having and seemed in much worse shape than I was in, I felt guilty for being in the group with them, they seemed to be much worse off than I was, I just had a hernia and again how much do I want to discuss in a group about the location of the pain and suffering. You go in for this supposed simply surgery with very little side effects and come out in pain and suffering with no answers. I started to say my surgery was semi elective. This in not like having a blocked artery that has to be fixed. Some of the studies have post surgical pain at 30%, did your surgeon tell you that?

Again you need to see someone that is very specialized in this. It was not funny but when I was working with both the GS and Urologist both stated the problem was for the others specialty to figure out what was wrong, it was not their part of the body they fix. They also kept saying no big deal in losing a testicle, you have two but did you read my complete history, low T. I would have liked to have said since both were male doctors If I lose one of mine by your surgery than you will have no problem losing one of yours.

You need your records. Do not be surprised if they are not complete and can not answer your questions. After my surgery things the doctor told me did not make sense. I kept asking questions which he could not answer as to explain the surgery again and why did you do this aspect of the surgery. Finally I was told under no circumstances to ask him about the surgery anymore. I would to try to make an appointment with the surgeon and have her go over what she did and why. Use your cell phone to record with permission so you have a record. I think a lot of Doctors think a lay person can not understand what they might explain to you. For the longest time I could not figure out about the Lipoma that kept coming up and why during open surgery it was removed and with lap it was not. I think Dr. Earle on this site explained it, so everyone could understand it. I too had a Lipoma removed or the Doctor stated it verbally but was not in my OR records. Why I asked. He said it is so common during a hernia surgery he does not tell the patient or note it in the records. If it happens so often the patient should be told in pre surgical consult so when they read the op reports they understand why it occurred.

Not knowing the exact type of pain you have and being a lay person, one treatment to look into that is done for PVP is denervation of the spermatic cord. Again there are only a few top doctors that do this or I would trust . I think the leading expert in the US is in the Orlando area. This is one treatment one doctor thought might help in my case but I backed out when I did not feel comfortable and is this the correct way to go and when the surgeon stated unlike other doctors at this hospital” I will be in the OR for your entire procedure”. Meaning the resident will by doing the surgery. Been there, done that and I was screwed, NO THANKS. Come to find out, I had a different type of hernia which you do not fix with denervation of the spermatic cord. Was the surgery really for me or for training a resident.

From what you describe your Doctor might have been over her head when doing your surgery and was unprepared and did not have the knowledge, experience or ability to do the correct procedure once see was faced with reality of the situation, you get to suffer, how fair is that. I found this out after my surgery. Thanks Doc for not telling me the truth about yourself. A little late now that your PA tells me you told her I dont know what could be causing the problems since I do so few. Before the surgery you told me you were a world class hernia specialist that does this surgery all of the time. Maybe your super ego and you do so few is the issue. When I spoke with Dr. Goodyear who has done what 15K hernia surgeries or so. I told him my surgeon for open stated he removed x body part. Dr. Goodyear said he never had to do this, it might occur when doing it by Lap but not open.

Hope this helps and again good luck.

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thank you for sharing. This experience is very isolating. I’m fed up with being in pain and unable to do the things I used to do but I’m afraid removing the mesh will make things worse. I feel trapped. The surgeon who put the mesh in says that its too risky to remove the mesh. She advises that removing the mesh will create a hernia and that the cord or testicle could be damaged. I have read a few cases where the mesh was removed without damage. Its a relief to speak with someone who had the mesh removed without damage.

[Beenthere]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

You may ask. May hernia occurred in the fall of 201x. I saw a quote hernia specialist about 5 days later. Watchful waiting. I did this but about a month but later it seemed to be getting larger and painful, so I decided to have the surgery during the winter so I could be recovered for summer. The surgery was in the Feb.. Recovery was not as fast as the Dr. stated but getting better until 7 weeks later. While driving it felt like a knife slicing or ripping in the surgically repaired side. The pain was around 8 or so. Nothing relived it. This was on a Sunday and I called the Dr. office Monday morning and they downplayed it. For the next 2 years I saw 6 different so called experts from the hospital to figure out what was wrong. They never did the proper imaging. It did get somewhat better but I could not walk normally. We came to the conclusion that it might be the mesh. They also found a hernia on the other side. So I found a great Dr. another state. He fixed the hernia on the other side but found a Femoral hernia on the side of the first hernia. This could have been the problem that went undiagnosed. He also went in and removed the original mesh. Felt so much better in the recovery room. They basically had to hold me done I was feeling so much better right away. That weekend I spent an entire day walking and standing.

Feel free to ask any more questions. Writing is not my thing, as you can probably tell.

Good Luck

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thanks again. May I ask why you had the mesh removed.

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thanks again Chaunce123 for the info. The pain after the surgery is completely different than the hernia pain. The pain now is a burning stabbing and deep ache. Honestly the logic of nerve block injections doesn’t follow for me. If the issue is the mesh then nerve blocks are only masking the issue.

[Beenthere]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Make sure you get a copy of all of medical records from this surgeon that did your first surgery. I found my pre surgery ones had no information in them and my op report not very truthful but you need the records as a starting point and any imaging done for your next doctor.

Again I recommend reading Unaccountable.

Good luck

[Chaunce123]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Was the pain you had before surgery similar to the pain you have now? How was the hernia diagnosed initially? Has someone done an ultrasound with valsava to check for a new hernia or a missed hernia?

I’m not sure if you have yet but you might want to try something like an extended NSAID and anti-inflammatory protocol (30 days higher dose continuous if allowed by doc), maybe nerve block injections, etc, before considering surgery, some people have a lot of success with those approaches to calm down the nerves and then don’t need a re-do surgery.

I would seek out someone with experience in managing post-op pain and re-do or removal surgery.

In southern California is Dr Towfigh and Dr Chen at UCLA, they are both well known for taking on complex cases and doing removal surgeries. There are certainly others throughout the country too, perhaps Dr Towfigh on these forums can chime in with some recommendations depending on your location.

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thank you Chaunce123 for all the info. The surgeon prescribed Lyrica and Advil. Neither really help much. I had open surgery. Yes, I had pain before the surgery. There was no defect in the wall just the cord lipoma. The frustrating thing about the pain is that it comes and goes. Although the pain never goes away completely. Exercise makes the pain worse.

[Darby]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Thank you. I’m glad to hear that your mesh removal went well. Its very difficult to know what to do. The surgeon who put the mesh in advises that mesh can’t be removed safely. I’ve seen a few articles were mesh was removed safely due to chronic pain or infection.

[Chaunce123]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

I am sorry to hear that you’re in pain. Did the original surgeon try anything to help your pain? Does anything help to reduce the pain or eliminate it? Did you have open or laparoscopic surgery? Did you have pain prior to surgery?

Try to document your symptoms and experience, what helps, what makes it worse, etc for your next appointment. Be as prepared as possible and seek out an expert in the field if you can, re-do surgery is very specialized.

The surgeon who did the initial surgery should be able to explain why they used mesh after removing the cord lipoma. There have been a few threads on the topic on these forums which could be useful to review as well, since cord lipoma is a really common finding:

http://www.herniatalk.com/hernia-discussion/978-importance-of-lipoma-of-the-cord.html

http://www.herniatalk.com/hernia-discussion/1077-fat-in-inguinal-canal-vs-hernia-vs-cord-lipoma.html

From the sounds of it, (and I’m not a doctor, so this could be wrong) the repair is basically the same.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15105999

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1422475/

A good starting point is to find an experienced doctor with a lot of knowledge of hernia re-do surgeries and the complexities of them. You may have to travel depending on the state and city you’re located in as Beenthere suggests.

Good luck and keep us updated on your decisions and progress.

[Beenthere]

Inguinal hernia mesh removal

Yes mine was successful. You need to find a doctor that does a lot of hernia surgeries. There are some quote experts that have done very few. I was referred to one a few years ago as a hernia specialist that had done zero at the time to fix mine. I put off the surgery until my insurance changed. Glad I did but out of pocket was $1,500. worth every penny not to be a used as a training tool.

Not sure were you are located but Dr Towfigh, Goodyear, Ramshaw, Yunis, Dr. G in Ohio, Chen and other moderators on this site would be great starting points.

Not sure were I got this but a Professional is someone when doing a job on how close they come to perfection and an amateur is judged by how many mistakes.

A lot of Dr., clinics and hospitals might say they are a specialist but to do this type of surgery needs someone that does them frequently and a lot of hernia surgeries.

The moderators came give you their professional reason for the mesh but my guess they might have found a need for several reasons as predisposed to having one in the future or a need after trying to find a hernia.

Good luck