Mesh removal

[Pwuenstel]

That’s a great perspective. I keep thinking about my mesh, the same as you were thinking about the guy overseas. My pain at the mesh site is pretty low and definitely livable, even during intense exercises. My pain is my testicle. It could be from the open repair or varicocele. Even Dr Belyanski said, the pain may very well have nothing to do with the mesh. Though he feels the mesh removal has a good chance of helping my overall pain. It’s a scary thought, like you said, risking constant pain, when I’m currrently “not so bad”. I do really appreciate that story though, i can relate very much to how that man felt and feels good that is all worked out for him in the end.

[Jnomesh]

No problem. If the mesh isn’t killing you best to take your time and gather as much info so you can make the best choice for your situation.
i often think to myself how someone’s condition prior to removal effects outcome. I’m other words if someone is in immense pain from the mesh will removal cure that pain or is something so established already that it won’t be a cure all. And of course if someone isn’t in immense pain does that hold better as a indicator that removal will help. My gut reaction is if the mesh isn’t crippling you then hold off on removal. But as a first hand witness I know that things can get worse and in my case I wish I explored more what was causing my pain Bc it did get a whole lot worse 6 years later and I now feel if I would of known it was the mesh earlier and had it removed before the it rally got bad maybe some of my lingering issues would of never happened. Of course it is much complicated then that but I will leave you with one thought:
i was speaking to a man overseas and he was telling me that he really wanted to have his mesh removed (implanted openly ) Bc after he swims and bikes the pain comes on strong in his groin and testicle. Outside of exercising he didn’t experience any pain. I have to admit as he was telling me this I was privately thinking is he nuts? To risk mesh removal and possible permanent all the time pain in the hope that he can exercise without pain? And his mesh had been in quite sometime 10 plus years
Anyways long story short he had his mesh removed by dr. Andreas Kock in germany and after about 3 or 4 months of recovery is now according to him 100% pain free and is swimming again pain free.
this led me to think maybe just maybe you don’t have to have debilitating pain to take the gamble if getting mesh removal. Maybe in fact the less pain and damage the mesh has done maybe the better the outcome. Ofcourse you need a top notch surgeon etc.

[Pwuenstel]

Sounds like the mesh removal had remarkable results for you. I’m glad to hear it was so successful, with what sounds like no downside. I’m still on the fence wether i want to remove the mesh or not. My pain is not at the point where it prevents me from doing anything, but it is a daily issue that I would rather not deal with for the rest of my life. Would just hate to go forward, and the removal to create more pain.

You are correct, you got to see as many doctors who have expertise in this field, and get every test possible. Would like speak to Dr Bandshaw as well, before I make a decision. The fact that my mesh was implanted open, and needs to be removed the same way, makes me a little less optimistic than I would be if it was lapro. I had a pretty rough recovery from the first surgery. My occupation is very physical, i fear the mesh removal may put me out of commission for too long of a span.

Thanks again for all the info info and insight to what you went through, helps a lot. Going to check out the doctumentray as well. Hope you continue to recover and get your life back. Any other information you think of or come by, please send my way. Thanks again

[Jnomesh]

Sure. I’m at the year mark since removal and doing much better. I hate to put % on things of this nature but if I had to I’d say I’m about 95% better.
there were about 3 different things the mesh was doing to me and 2 of those are gone post removal.. one issue that remains is I had severe burning pain when sitting but since removal it is now more uncomfortable than painful with no more burning. It’s something I can live with and this summer while wearing comfy shorts i didn’t feel anything and did driving trips if 6 plus hours.
one of the reasons I chose dr. Belyanski was Bc I spoke to some other people who he removed their mesh and he got 100% of it out but to me more importantly preserved the groin nerves.
For me there were no hernias present upon removal-which seems to be quite common if mesh was implanted laparoscopically and in for some time and no nerves had to be cut
I should note the preservation of the groin nerves seems to be more common with lapro removals of lapro implanted mesh. Open removals seem to have the likelihood of at least one nerve being cut.
I always think it is a good idea to meet with at least 2 or 3 of the top surgeons regarding mesh issues and removals and be prepared to travel
someone once told me if you’ve tried everything , seen every dr had every test and everything comes back normal it’s the mesh causing the pain and symptoms.
Fortunately there are now a small subset of surgeons who can in my opinion remove the mesh safely but unfortunately we are still in the unknown of how people will do post mesh removal when it comes to resolving ones pain issues.
and unfortunately there is still very little recognition from most of these surgeons that mesh itself causes pain and other symptoms which is a real shame.
Tjere is a great documametsry called the bleeding edge on Netflix which highlights issues of pelvic mesh and it’s dangers as well as other medical implants.

[Pwuenstel]

[USER=”2042″]Jnomesh[/USER] thanks for the reply. Can you please provide some updates from your mesh removal? How is your pain now compared to pre-removal? Did your hernia come back? And lastly, did you also have a neurectomy, and if so, how was the result of that procedure? Hope your healing well!

[Jnomesh]

Dr. Belyanski is a highly skilled surgeon and you are in good hands.
i had my lapro implanted mesh removed the same way by him a year ago. Form what I’ve heard and the people I’ve spoken to it seems open removal is a little bit more invasive and can take longer to heal/recover-as you are most likely having three operations rolled into one
mesh removal
neurectomey
and most likely a hernia repair.
best wishes give yourself time to heal.

[Pwuenstel]

That picture was a little scary to see. Thanks..i think..ha. And my luck yes, we will only kill two stones.

Belyansky thinks he can remove the mesh without damaging he surrounding tissue, but said the ilioinguinal nerve would most likely be cut in the process since it will be caught in the mesh. Thanks again for the info.

[Good intentions]

quote Pwuenstel:

Brief description of my situation, I had an open left inguinal hernia repair, and varicocele in 2016. Medium pro loop mesh was used. Since then I have had pain at mesh site and also pain in left testicle. Has anyone else had similar results?

The issue is at this point we don’t know if the testicle pain is from the hernia repair, or varicocele. To this day, I don’t know why he surgeon did the varicocele while fixing the hernia, as there were no symptoms. But either way, i do still have pain at the hernia site from the mesh, so the mesh removal may kill two birds with one stone.

I don’t have any direct advice or experience with that type of mesh. But I do recall a recent tweet from Dr. Towfigh about what looks like a plug and onlay mesh removal, Perfix brand, and some comments in the tweet about plugs in general. Another herniatalk member posted this originally.

https://twitter.com/Herniadoc/status/1021561699290116097

Here’s a link to the Proloop product. It’s a little scary to see, with all of the disordered loops, and will probably take some work to remove.

http://www.atriummed.com/EN/biosurgery/Documents/009966-PROLOOP.pdf

Can I make a joke?… better two birds with one stone than killing two stones…

Good luck.

What do you see?

This is a medium size Perfix #plug #mesh that has balled up, aka #meshoma . It was causing chronic groin & nerve #pain due to erosion into the spermatic cord, so I excised it. He is now #pain free!🙏🏻#meshcomplication #hernia #chronicpain #itsnotjustahernia pic.twitter.com/EgnLh0ULXR

— Dr. Shirin Towfigh (@Herniadoc) July 24, 2018