I think that recovery probably depends on the type of hernia, the type of mesh used, the type of repair, the length of time since the mesh implantation, and the activities that the patient engages in.
One of the huge problems in understanding the current situation is that even the professionals, who have been dealing with the problem for decades, tend to oversimplify things down to “mesh” (used to describe all types of mesh). “open” (used to describe Lichtenstein, Kugel, PHS, etc.), and “laparoscopic” (used to describe TEP, TAPP, and all variations of those two broad acronyms). And today they have a new word, “robotic”. Which is really just another form of TAPP laparoscopic.
Anyway, here is a Topic I started a short while ago. I am at almost 5 years since removal.
Healing from mesh removal surgery