-
Shouldice or Kang?
Just got a hernia after lifting weights two weeks ago. Doctor says he thinks its a direct. He is recommending lap surgery. I don’t want mesh. Spent hours reviewing posts here. Top two no mesh contenders are Kang repair and shouldice repair. Most here seem to favor Kang. I live in the bahamas so getting to korea would be really hard. Is there a reason to pick kang over shouldice? Shouldice clinic says 1 percent recurrance. Kang says less. But his repair is new. Kang saves cremaster. Small incision. But shouldice is more tested. Closer for me. Shouldice uses stainless steel sutures and big incision. But if it lasts longer its the winner right? Chronic pain risk better with one or the other? I cant find many shouldice repairs here. Mark T got a shouldice. Anyone else care to opine on best repair and why?
-
2 Replies
-
I don’t know the answer but I don’t necessarily trust posted recurrence rates if it’s not independently reviewed. I would just assume there is a chance of recurrence and be sure you are ok with what that entails. And don’t place too much belief in a few posts on a forum.
-
From another post on this forum -maybe kang is best
Dr. Chen performed a manual evaluation of my Shouldice repair and did not feel that there has been a recurrence. He explained that the large raised area near the original repair is not scar tissue, but rather just a symptom of the stretching of the abdominal wall that occurs to facilitate the Shouldice repair. He said that essentially they pull the already weak and thin layer of muscle even thinner to cover the hole where the hernia occurred. Thus, my insides are pushing against an even thinner layer of muscle and causing this bulge or raised area. By the time I had gotten to the appointment, the pain I had experienced for about 3 weeks around the time I made my initial post had mostly resolved. However, I’m having some pain again, possibly from all the poking around the doctor did during my visit. I have a good bit of nerve damage (numbness) in the area and there are instances of sharp pain when poking around the repair, but I can tolerate it.
Dr. Chen did not seem particularly fond of the Shouldice repair and even told me that “when the hernia recurs” (before correcting himself to “if the hernia recurs”), it will be at the site of this raised area. He advised me to refrain from lifting heavy objects or performing non-anatomical movements for pretty much forever. This will be difficult since I play ice hockey and try to stay in shape by lifting weights, but I will try to limit myself to lighter weights and higher reps.
Log in to reply.