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No-mesh Shouldice Hernia Surgery in Germany / Europe
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Hi good intentions.
id start right from the begining.
after doing my research these times last year i decided to opt for the desarda technique and spoke to moham desarda.
i had tbilateral inguinal hernias.
i found dr koch on the desarda website and decided to get in touch.
at the time i went directly through bio hernia who were extremely helpful and great at organising everything.
when i arrived and was assesed a day before surgery i asked the dr if he can please peform the desarda. He told me that he will check once he opens me up whats best and that desarda is mainly for skinny people and not suitable for my size (6ft 3 was 105kg). He stated that if the shouldice was to be used he will not cut the cremester muscle like they do in shouldice clinic as he finds it pointless having testicles dangling.
on the day of surgery 16/08/2017 after i recovered from the general anasthesia we had a brief chat and thats were inwas told the shouldice technique was used with absorbable sutures. I felt great after two days of intense pain i was fine and greatful my bowels were working properly for the first time in a couple years. 5 days later i returned to london.
About 10 weeks into my recovery i felt as if my surgery areas were weaking so i took a flight back to germany to be seen. He told me there and then that nothing is wrong and told me to continue strengthening it.
Come end of november i contacted the doctor again and told him that my left side has a bulge coming through and my right side feels very weak and bulgy. I took a flight out there agian. He said there was no hernia and what i felt was blood rushing down to my legs. After having a discussion and talk he told me that he will reoperate both. He reoperated 14/12/2017 and told me that the left side had a little hole and therefore he just went over it with a small permanent suture. On the right side he told me that he used a german mesh called dyna mesh which has big pores and is soft. He said he used that because the posterior wall was weak.
After surgery i was in a lot of pain for the next few days and had local ansthesia 3 times before i returned to london. Nothing felt right . Nor my right or left side. I was told to be patient and wait as it was recovering and there was a lot of scar tissue he removed. My complaints never stopped since. My left side reoccured as soon as i had my first bowel movement in london. The right side lasted a few months however it felt so uncomfortable and as if my body was hanging stuck to something. I continued waiting in discomfort until about the 6th month as i was told not to do anything for 12 weeks.
I started running once supposedly better and it was constant pain. I kicked a ball gently and straight away my right side felt like someone had cut me with a knife. From then onwards my right side got worse and worse and within a week t was bed bound everytime i tried doing sports
In early june or late may 2018 the doctor was in london and i kindly asked if he can reasses me and see wether the hernias reoccured. He looked for a few seconds and told me once again that its not a bulge its blood running through my veins and the pain is caused on the right side by the scar tissue readjusting and reforming due to there being a mesh. I was very frustrated as i knew he knew that i had both hernias as kt was the same bulge that was there in the first place which he assesed and said surgery was needed back in 2017. Out of frustration and desperation i contacted the shouldice clinic. I told them of the situation and spoke to the chief surgeons assistant.
She said he was dissapointed a shouldice technique was used using absorbable sutures. The clinic told me this dosnt represent the success rate of the technique as a main area was altered with by using sutures that are absorbed.
she also told me that the main part of the technique is actually having the cremester muscle cut as this reduces the chances of reoccurence.
They were even more shocked at the fact that the surgeon decided to reoperate after only a few months. The chief surgeon said that at the shouldice clinic there is a one year wait for re surgery as it roughly takes this long for the muscles to heal and be at a good enough level to be restitched. They said my second surgery was a pointless attempt as failure was the only option due to being so fresh from previous surgery.
A lot of surgeons on their website or when u speak to them directly, will state they are shouldice trained when this is not the case. The clinic told me that they only allow doctors to observe for a few days whilst surgery is being taken place and that no training is given.
after speaking to the clinic and pleading for help the surgeon decided to operate on me at the end of this year or otherwise i had to wait till may 2019.
when they found out i was 105kg and that i was that weight when i had the first surgery, they wernt too happy. They booked me in and told me that i must come in at 89 kg for them to operate on me as this will allow the surgery to have a higher success rate. Its been 6 weeks since i first conctacted shouldice and today i am 91kg.
There has been a huge difference in the way i feel since ive lost the weight. The side with no mesh is literally pain free but just a bit restrictive however the right side is more painful and have sharpen pains since the weight loss. I generally feel a lot better since the loss and maybe thats due to also recovering.
ive had a very bad time over the last few years especially last year and its put me through a lot, mentally, pyhsically and financially.
The proffesionalism of the shouldice clinic is what has impressed me the most. A leading hernia mesh removal surgeon dr kevin pietersen if im correct, states on his website if he were to have any issues in realtion to a hernia he will go to the shouldice clinic. And touching on mesh removal, the shouldice clinc do not do mesh removal unless there is a reoccurence of the hernia.
The diet plans ive been given and the level of care even before ive stepped into the clinic has given me hope and the feeling maybe this time id end this misery and be able to live a normal life.
My surgery is sceduled for the end of november and sadly or funnily, however it may seem, i am looking forward to the next surgery day just with the hope that i might be able to one day make a full recovery. -
Hello Baris. Can you tell more about your situation? The type of hernia and what made it fail? I saw your other post and replied but it is Unapproved at this time.
I was very athletic also but had a laparoscopic mesh repair. The mesh was worse than the hernia, it made athletic activity impossible without side effects.
Any details would be appreciated. Good luck at Shouldice.
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Hi chaunce,
Dr ralph lorenz in berlin also does the shouldice surgery and is a good friend of dr koch. I funnily asked dr koch if he had a hernia wer would he go too and dr ralph lorenz was the man he said so id definently say have a look. Also berlin is much more convenient as the closes airport to dr koch is easily over 90 mins away and difficult to get to with public transport. Dr Muschaweck has a great setup in munich but her prices can be triple the amount of the other two doctors that i have stated. But do your research carefully and also wanted to ask if you have contacted the shouldice clinic for more information? The clinic will clearly state that the technique is not a shouldice if sutures that are absorbed are used. Good luck -
Hello Chaunce. Great idea to start a topic for this. I think that Dr. Koch is the Holland-based surgeon in this partnership, along with Belgium. Dr. Muschaweck apparently handles the UK and Germany. Ireland is either. And there is a separate “International” link.
Looks like this person, Nahom Welldeiesus, started the partnership, after his/her own hernia repair in 2015. It’s on the About Us page. It looks like the three of them are the business, and both surgeons can be contacted through the Biohernia site.
Also note that they reference three methods – Shouldice, Desarda, and Muschaweck. And mesh removal.
Here is an excerpt that I translated from their Holland page, using Google translate. The web site is a bit clunky, it’s new of course. Click the “how does it work” from the info link.
“Kom voor een kennismaking met onze chirurg, Dr. Andreas Koch, langs op één van onze maandelijkse spreekuren.”
“Come for an introduction to our surgeon, Dr. Andreas Koch, along on one of our monthly office hours.”
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