News Feed Discussions Hernia Discussion Mesh/non mesh -best for avoiding chronic pain?

  • Mesh/non mesh -best for avoiding chronic pain?

    Posted by Ken on December 4, 2023 at 7:05 pm

    My doctor wants to fix my hernia with lap mesh. He says this is the new more advanced way to fix hernias. The old way open tissue repair is painful and will not hold longterm. What do guys here think is the best way to repair a hernia? Is there any consensus as a general matter?? It seems like both have the potential for chronic pain. But mesh is more likely to last. Who wants a second surgery? I am not overweight. I want a one and done surgery. But avoiding chronic pain is my biggest issue. If I have a direct hernia and I want to avoid chronic pain what is the best approach.? It doesnt seem like this forum is very active???

    drtowfigh replied 12 months ago 6 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • drtowfigh

    Moderator
    December 9, 2023 at 9:05 pm

    Sam’s answer is very accurate.

  • Ken

    Member
    December 7, 2023 at 10:01 am

    Oceanic – thank you. Who did your shouldice? Did the doctor tell you what your risk of recurrance was? I am having a lot of trouble finding accurate information on recurrance rates. David Chen says its not a matter of if a shouldice will recur but when? My doctor is saying the same. I am active and he is saying mesh is much better for active folks. You say you have no pain thats great. But can you feel the repair? Tightness? Pulling sensations? Thank you again

    • MarkT

      Member
      December 7, 2023 at 10:54 pm

      To say that it is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ a Shouldice repair will fail is utter nonsense…so i<font face=”inherit”>f Chen and your doctor said that, they are either shamefully dishonest or </font>embarrassingly<font face=”inherit”> ignorant.</font>

  • Oceanic

    Member
    December 5, 2023 at 9:25 am

    The most important thing is to find a very exeperienced surgeon who only does hernia repairs, I wouldn’t have laproscopic personally and many surgeons who practiced this in the past have gone back to open repair as they think it’s a better approach. I perosnally had a Shouldice type of repair as I just didn’t like the idea of a huge piece of mesh in me that can initially be just fine but destroy you years later. Time will tell if I made the right decision but I’m 6 months out from surgery and feel just fine, no pain at all.

    You’ll read pros and cons for all the solutions but do your research and then pick your posion, there is no fix thats perfect and has zero chance of chronic pain.

  • Wellington

    Member
    December 5, 2023 at 12:47 am

    I just had non-mesh done with Dr Kang in South Korea. Very nice,

    See my experience here on this post:

    https://herniatalk.com/forums/topic/non-mesh-with-dr-kang-in-korea-journal-updates/

  • Sam

    Member
    December 4, 2023 at 8:20 pm

    There’s no “best”, and a consensus on an online forum is useless. You can find stories of people with chronic pain in both mesh and non-mesh, and forums attract people with surgery issues more than the majority who had no issues. I really believe there are other factors that have way more impact on whether you will have pain: surgeon experience and skill, your own caution during recovery period, not having high BMI, and not being a smoker. Age under 40 also has higher risk of pain. A lot of the post-surgery pain postings I see were because the surgeon botched it, it was done long ago before techniques improved, or they messed up the surgery by lifting too soon.

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