Mesh removal

[MarkT]

I would strongly recommend that you seek to address your psychological symptoms instead of looking toward a surgical solution for a problem that exists only in your head, for a number of reasons:

– You have no physical symptoms of injury/illness that warrant surgical intervention.

– There is no reliable evidence that modern non-symptomatic hernia mesh implantation may lead to cancer.

– A surgeon will surely face ethical barriers to removing mesh in the absence of a medically sound rationale for doing so.

– Mesh removal is not a ‘routine’ matter and you would be absorbing all of the risks associated with a 2nd surgery to remove the mesh and re-repair the hernia defect. The likelihood of chronic pain and hernia recurrence will be higher vs. simply leaving the non-symptomatic mesh in now.

Seek help…speak with a mental health professional…there is no need to suffer with these thoughts on your own. I suspect that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) would be an effective option for addressing your psychological symptoms.

[Franck]

Thank you for your response. I am under the same impression that no surgeon will be willing to remove the mesh. This is even more depressing.

Psychological pain is a real pain. And it is destroying my life.

It seems there are no studies about mesh and long term impact on health. If someone knows a study over 10-20 years it could re-assure me.

[MarkT]

Without getting into a big story, there is not *great* long-term data on hernia repair in genera, never mind on relatively new mesh products that don’t have decades of use behind them. Despite this, there is still not a good reason to believe that modern hernia meshes will result in health problems down the road such as cancer…and we still know that a sizeable majority of hernia patients will enjoy problem-free repairs. You can take some solace in this…chances are, you will be fine!

I strongly agree that psychological pain is real pain…and for this very reason, a mental health professional should be consulted. Just as we seek a doctor when we have physical pain, we should seek out professional help when we have psychological pain. You would not be expected to fix your own broken arm, so why would you be expected to fix your own depression or anxiety?

Your psychological symptoms warrant a psychological intervention, and a qualified therapist will be able to help you with this.

[Franck]

Thank you so much for these comforting words. I will follow your advice and try to find someone.

And if it does not work I really hope a surgeon will eventually be able to remove the mesh.

[Good intentions]

You seem a lot like a former HerniaTalk member.

There are are 95 pages on HerniaTalk that refer to mesh removal. I would read through those. Nothing has changed for decades, except that there are more surgeons doing mesh removal today.

Good luck.

https://herniatalk.com/forums/search/mesh+removal/

herniatalk.com

Hernia Talk

Hernia Talk

[Franck]

Thank you for the link. I see you had mesh removal and it took you quite some time for the recovery. But now you seem fine: this is very good! Can you tell me if the mesh was originally implanted by laparoscopy? And was it removed by laparoscopy too?

You say someone else had similar concerns as mine. Do you know how did he end up? Did he remove the mesh? Is he feeling better?

[David M]

Franck, now that it’s in there and doesn’t hurt why not go with the flow instead of thinking yourself into a corner?

[Franck]

This is what I have been trying to do for the last couple months. But I am still not able to accept it.

I am really worried it can give cancer in the long term. I keep thinking about it. It is destroying my life. I do not see the point to take care my self anymore since I am destroying myself with this thing slowly anyway. I used to love my life but not anymore since I had this implant.

So I think the best is to remove it.

[CursedGroin]

What are your symptoms ?

[Franck]

My symptoms are psychological. I keep thinking about the mesh and I am depressed. I do not enjoy life anymore and I do not care about anything. I think my body is being destroyed by a piece of plastic inside.

I do not have mush pain anymore. I had pain just after the surgery for couple weeks, mostly while walking. Now it is more about a small pinch above where there was a small incision but it is not the reason I want the mesh remove.

[Good intentions]

By who? The hospital or surgeon. The name.

[Franck]

The surgery has been performed in Mougin Hospital Sophia Antipolis

[Good intentions]

Where was the repair performed?

[Franck]

The mesh repair was performed in France.

[Franck]

Does anybody know if it is possible to remove such mesh at Shouldice hospital?