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Shouldice vs Kang surgery experience
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Hi pinto,
Thanks for the reply. I am not sure how I was not fair in my comparison. I can only compare the two based on my experience as a patient with both surgeries, and made sure to add my age for clarification. I think I was was completely fair there. I did mention that both were successful, and I was satisfied with both surgeries.
If I lived in Canada, I would likely opt for going to Shouldice due to proximity, saving on travel costs.
However, if I lived anywhere else, I would opt to get the Kang surgery due to the advantages. I couldn’t think of any advantage that Shouldice had over Kang, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good surgery. Like I said, I’m living a normal life after both surgeries and able to do everything like I’ve never had a hernia in the first place 🙂
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At the outset let me state clearly that I long have been a fan of the Kang method but actually of both methods. However for the sake of discussion I must point out, Colin, your comparison being made is applies and oranges. First “A” was done 20 years before “B.” Second, they very likely were very different surgical situations. It’s unfair to both methods. As great as the Kang method may be, it is not proper to put such a supremely classical method as Shouldice in a compromised position as you did. It suggests bias. We can say, however, that from what is presently known about the most recent iterations of both methods, the Kang method appears to have two advantages, incision size and suturing (though some will debate the latter). Another point is how the cremaster muscle is dealt with, seemingly a Kang advantage. As far as your recovery time, etc., here again, is a situational matter. Anyway the three points I mentioned are likely important Kang advantages, but nothing is perfect. Any such comparisons need to be done fairly.
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@cdnguy – there might be a thread on here with more detailed info, but if you tag stephen or drkang (just put the ‘@’ in front of those usernames), you will probably get a response from Stephen.
Stephen works with Dr. Kang and helps with non-Korean patients…I think he is translating Dr. Kang’s work into English too.
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@cdnguy – there is some info on the hospital’s site:
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I’m a bit late but everything Mike said is my experience as well. I was never asked to cough during the procedure as well.
I should mention that it’s been about 20 months since my Kang Repair, and I have started weightlifting again for the last 4 months. I have had no problems exercising 5 days a week and lifting 100+ kg weight for deadlifts, bench press, and squats each week. It’s probably not recommended to do this, but I figured I’ll be the guinea pig. So far I feel great and there’s been no discomfort at all by the surgery site.
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I got mine done in a small private hospital in a small place called Scunthorpe https://trentcliffs.co.uk/. The Surgeon has a recurrence rate of about 2%. The logic behind it was basically that I wanted it done under a local, please see my experience post of that if you’re interested and that if you go to a place where the approach is sort of local first rather than general the price is wildly different. I paid 2k for the entire experience, Martin Kurzer with the St John & St Elizabeth Hospital in London was charging like 3.7k for the same thing. I initially spoke to Martin but seriously the guy was so rude to me it’s just obscene anyway besides the point. Simply put under a LA you can get treatment considerably cheaper if that’s their focus, if you go to a place that does generals all the time then you get given that price. I wanted a LA because I didn’t like the idea of a general and the experience was fantastic while also saving me £1.7k. The small hospital offered incredible care and wait times were non-existent. You can quite literally book in for surgery same week, go to the hospital and practically walk straight into the operating room. At all points there were at least 3x the number of staff to patients looking after us.
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Hey, despite booking in with Dr Lorenz due to Covid politics I wasn’t able to travel to Germany for surgery and was left in limbo with no dates as to when it would be possible. Given it was a key time in my life and this was the 2nd tissue repair surgery I painstakingly tracked down and booked in I gave up and got a mesh repair. Had the repair done under a local and made a post about it, recovery is going amazingly. I couldn’t be more happy to so far in not be in the category of horror stories.
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If I consider ONLY the surgery, then for me, I feel practically the same right now after both surgeries, like I’ve never had either operation. The only difference is the incision size, which I mentioned at the beginning of the thread. And as a patient, I only care about how I feel after the surgery, if I can still do everything I did before, and to a lesser degree, what the site looks like. It’s basically a tie between Shouldice and Kang, with a small edge to Kang for the smaller incision.
But if we factor in other things such as recovery, I give Kang a greater edge. The fact I was able to go home after 1 hour and felt good enough to go to work after 2 days was really beneficial and also a surprise to me. I didn’t have that experience at Shouldice, but perhaps someone with a more recent Shouldice experience could elaborate on recovery time there to give you a more fair comparison.
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Even if you’ve had your 2 shots, you still need to quarantine for 14 days. However, you can apply for an exemption from your Korean embassy/consulate, and maybe in the case of surgery they’ll exempt you.
Otherwise, starting in November, the government will be easing restrictions and gradually start treating covid similarly to the flu.
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Yeah the quarantine requirement is 14 days unless you apply for a quarantine exemption. If you want to go get dr kang’s surgery, it’s likely you would have to wait until the lockdown is over.
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Don’t overlook that people create sites on the internet for many reasons. That surgeon created her site just to voice her opinions about various things she sees at her work, and other causes she is concerned about. As she says, she writes for pleasure. But, really, she’s just another surgeon who does hernia repair.
She is a political candidate. She has Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts. She wants her voice to be heard. In today’s world, taking an opposing view, to almost anything, is enough to get your name out there. But, besides being a surgeon, there is no sign that she is an expert in hernia repair methods. No publications or presentations about hernia repair methods. Just another person with an opinion. She seems to be involved in good causes but that might not transfer to surgery results.
The scientific papers and especially the studies that look at long-term results are where people should get the data that they use to form their own opinions. The numbers show the reality of what’s happening. The typical surgeon will stay in contact with their hernia repair patient for three to six weeks, then never hear from them again. Anecdotes from surgeons are not really very useful.
Just something to consider. You can find internet information to support any opinion these days. Understand your information sources. Good luck.
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Dan, I’m not sure the pandemic will be short lived. UK rates are on the rise for example. I’d be interested in a Dr Kang repair too but I am not keen on flying! And at the moment I think it would be 14 day quarantine although not sure if that applies if you are double jabbed and or had third/booster.
Do you know the quarantine procedure requirements by any chance?
The pregnant woman anecdote. Thanks for that. It does go along with the Gipum hospital low reoccurrence figures. And I’d imagine having a baby inside, with the turning and pushing, etc would put a lot of pressure on her body.
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Just last night, I watched the HerniaTalk Live with Dr. Samer Sbayi (Stoneybrook in NY) as guest. He trained for 1yr at Shouldice and offers that repair.
Shouldice does use stainless steel (316L), but seems to ‘fallback on Prolene’)? Dr. Sbayi uses the exact same stainless steel, but he also uses Prolene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnyI5qgYFEY
Start at the 10:00 mark…at 16:55, they discuss environmental allergies, including nickel and manganese. Dr. Sabyi also mentions having removed stainless steel in a patient who had a reaction and replacing with Prolene.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by MarkT.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by
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