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Successful, good "mesh" stories
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[USER=”2029″]Good intentions[/USER] you’re a great contributor to this site so please don’t feel like you’re over-posting. I know what you feel, but ultimately knowledge is good. If even one single patient can be helped by what any of us post on any topic, it is worthwhile. That’s my opinion anyway.
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quote Jnomesh:Hi good intentions as someone who had his mesh removed 2 summers ago In which it was found to have curled up k to a rock hard ball I think knit would also be interesting to find people who have had successful mesh removal and more to the point successful recovery of symptoms prior to mesh removal.
That would be a good thread topic. We could offer details about the experience, including what to expect over time, after mesh removal. I’m finding that the normal time to healing, after working the area, is much longer than for other types of injuries. Maybe due to lower blood flow, and the fact the area doesn’t move a lot while recovering. Unlike a limb or a muscle.
I feel like I might be overposting on the site as-is, but would certainly add to a thread on that topic. Could you start one? Excellent idea to round out the topics.
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Hi good intentions as someone who had his mesh removed 2 summers ago In which it was found to have curled up k to a rock hard ball I think knit would also be interesting to find people who have had successful mesh removal and more to the point successful recovery of symptoms prior to mesh removal.
through my own research I have only met one person (a female) who recovered 100% (that being feeling back to 100% of her ore mesh stmptoms. Everyone else seems to still have lingering issues but most are happy they got the mesh out and generally feel better.
anyways I’m regards to your post I know two people who have had hernia repairs and have had no issues. My sisters husband who had open mesh repair 17 years ago when he was 20. He is in the process of getting his operative report Bc he now has a hernia on the other side and after hearing my ordeal is doing a lot of research so he can make an informed decision. Although personally I think he should consider the shouldice Hospital I also told him if does decide on hernia repair with mesh for him to get his operative report and try and replicate it as much as possible since the other side was successful with mesh-in other words seek out the same type of mesh and possibly if still In practice the same surgeon.
When he gets his operative report I will be able to tell you the type of mesh
the other guy is my best friends dad-who had lapro repair around 15 years ago but I know he won’t get his operative report.
another interesting note and I k or I’m all over the place with this post but my sisters husband went to a surgeon where he lives in Massachusetts and folded her he was thinking of getting s non mesh repair and she told him she didn’t have the expertise in that but if he wanted that the shouldice Hospital would be great but she did offer him a open repair with fully absorbable mesh which disappears around 18-24 months after implantation but is in long enough for the hernia defect to heal through the scar formation the mesh indices. I know dr. Bruce Ramshaw uses this type of mesh (he uses tiger mesh) for patients who when he removed mesh and the area isn’t strong enough for a pure tissue repair this type of mesh is a good compromise for patients that don’t want more mesh put in post mesh removal. Now it seems as it may also be a solution for those that don’t want mesh and can’t find a surgeon who specializes in pure tissue repairs (a real problem )
anyways there is a lot to be skeptical about but this seems like a topic worth exploring more -
I’ve been browsing threads and found a success story. But I don’t know the details yet, beyond that it was performed by Dr. Goodyear, and might have used Ultrapro mesh (he was not sure in one of his posts. “pro” is used in many mesh brand names). And the description sounds like a direct hernia. Another post about scar tissue sounds like an open repair. Three years as of August 2017. I sent him a message, hoping for a response.
So until corrected, another open surgery that has gone well.
https://www.herniatalk.com/5335-3-years-after-surgery
https://www.herniatalk.com/5099-femoral-hernia-new-to-all-this
https://www.herniatalk.com/5953-how-long-for-bothersome-scar-tissue-to-go-away
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Thats correct. Laparoscopic type surgery with progrip mesh. And I can certainly stay connected with updates here and there. I still find a lot of value in these forums. Thank you all.
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quote Milo:Here is my story 6 weeks post op
Overall, very happy with the outcome.
Thanks Milo. I wish you the best. Six weeks is early. Do you have more details on the type of surgery and the mesh that was used? I looked back through your posts and found where you said it was “lap indirect-inguinal mesh repair on the right side”.
Stay in touch. Use this thread to post in every month or so. 6 months and beyond will be interesting.
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quote Good intentions:Thanks Damien. I just saw your other post in your original thread. I plan to make a comment there.
So, another successful open repair. Do you remember any details about type and quantity of mesh? Was it one of the two layer systems or just a single flat piece?
No I don’t know anything about the type of mesh that was put in me. Where I live the healthcare is socialised so you just go to the public hospital and get the operation done. I was also really young and was more concerned with the amount of time that I would miss at the gym. I’m sure I could maybe find out what type of mesh they were using 8-10 years ago etc. I remembered the doctor showing it to me but I wouldn’t be able to differentiate it from any other mesh. I however don’t think it was double sided because it looked really flat at the time. I took about a year off before I resumed any physical activity and then I was always really careful.
I see stories of people returning to the gym etc after 6 weeks post surgery and I think that is risky not just for the surgery but the risk of putting strain on the other side as you inadvertently try to protect your repaired side.
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Here is my story 6 weeks post op
First I will say, everyone heals differently, so don’t expect to be up and doing your regular routine in the first week. After seeing some case reports where the authors say they are up and about within day would be a very optimistic outcome. I was still pretty sore until 10 days about, and still not really able to get around comfortably until maybe 3 weeks.
31 male. 170lbs. 6ft tall. Small inguinal hernia repair. Laparoscopic with progrip mesh.
Surgery day- I had surgery around 3 pm. No food or water the day of surgery. Doctor talked to me briefly beforehand to see if I had any questions. Everything went smoothly, no complications. Pain was sort of mild when I woke up and didn’t get much worse for the first few hours. I took another 2 pain tablets during the evening. I only drank Gatorade and spent the evening laying down mostly.
Day 2-more pain this day. Getting out of bed was very difficult. I was alone and had to really use my arms and hoist myself out of bed to avoid putting a lot of tension on my abdominal wall. From what I’ve heard online, it may be better to avoid a lot of time on a sofa where your stomach is curled and wont have to stretch. This just makes it more painful/difficult when you finally do stretch out, so I just stuck with bed and standing/walking. Also I tried to get out of bed and shuffle around a bit every couple hours to help my body get used to the mesh. This was fairly uncomfortable the first few days.
I took 1 pain pill mid day to help me get up and move around. Pain was tolerable.Day 3-6 during this time I was still feeling pain and stiffness but it was noticeably better each day. Bowel movements back to normal.
Day 7-14 at this point I was getting back into proper walking. I started going to the grocery store and doing short walks less than 30 minutes and gradually got comfortable with it. Pain in the hernia area was still noticeable, but not limiting me from walking around. Occasional shots of pain, but pain level at only a 1 or 2 by the end.
Days 14-42 my hernia pain was very low during this time and I have none at day 42. I have had continuing pain at two of the incision sites, but it’s only flairs up at night and hasn’t ever been more than mild, and is slowly going away as well. I have walked a lot during my recovery and feel good enough to start with some light weights and jogging. Overall, very happy with the outcome.
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Thanks Damien. I just saw your other post in your original thread. I plan to make a comment there.
So, another successful open repair. Do you remember any details about type and quantity of mesh? Was it one of the two layer systems or just a single flat piece?
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Had surgery over 9 years ago and my only issue was a day in the gym last year where I did something “wrong” which resulted in extreme pain that pretty much had me flat on my stomach. For months I thought I had another hernia but ultrasound showed nothing more than a swollen lypmh node that no doubt was the result of my injury. I still don’t know if the mesh moved and cut something in me or it was scar tissue coming apart.
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I still have not heard from the person who had a repair similar to mine. Surprising because he’s usually very responsive.
Still open to hear any success stories. Anything at all just to add some definition to what’s happening. The early open surgeries with small pieces of mesh, the basics of the Lichtenstein method, must have been successful, otherwise, I think, the industry would have stuck with the suturing techniques, and rejected mesh. Yet, somehow mesh became the new thing, displacing the old methods. Where are the success stories?
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I have not heard back from the person I contacted one week ago, Post #2 above. Hopefully he’s just having too much fun to reply.
I did remember one other person who had a successful hernia repair. It was done in 2006, an open repair with mesh, eight years before mine. He is actually the one who recommended the surgeon who did the bilateral TEP implantation of Bard Soft Mesh. So, even in his mind, as a general surgeon, he thought of TEP and open surgery as giving similar results.
So that’s one more successful open surgery with mesh. He was very active and athletic when I knew him and really believed that I would be better off after the TEP mesh implantation.
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Thanks Feuermann. Yours sounds like it’s one level up from your dad’s. I think that they use it for a more robust repair, for larger direct hernias. But it covers a small area so most of your abdomen will be unaffected, unlike the common TEP procedure,which opens a up a very large space. Good luck, and I hope you’ll come back every few months to update.
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I don’t have a lot of detail on my dad’s surgery other than it being open on the right side with a single piece of mesh.
Mine was open on the right side with mesh placed both posterior and anterior and fixated with prolene sutures. My incision was small, less than 2 in.
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My dad’s surgery was on the right side, with a single piece of mesh placed on top of the opening – an anterior onlay, I believe. He had a different surgeon from mine. Because it was so long ago, he doesn’t know what type of mesh was used. Since it was in the 1990s, I assume it was a heavier mesh, but I can’t be certain.
My surgeon placed two pieces of mesh in me – one posterior and one anterior. It is a medium sized Kugel Modified Hernia Patch, according to the operative report. I don’t believe this is a particularly lightweight mesh, but I am not sure if it qualifies as heavyweight either. The report says he used prolene sutures to secure the mesh pieces in place. My surgery was also on the right side.
He was a very confident surgeon. He said he had done around 2000 open repairs, with no patients returning to him with a recurrence and only two returning with chronic pain. In both those cases, he said his patients’ pain eventually resolved.
At the time, I thought doing two pieces of mesh would be a good idea – especially given my surgeon’s confidence and reported recurrence and chronic pain rates. After comparing my dad’s experience and reading the accounts on here, I am not so sure. My dad’s long-term recovery was definitely quicker (he said he felt completely normal again about 6 months after the surgery) and I wonder if this is the case because his body only had to deal with one piece of mesh. I also worry that if something goes really wrong with the mesh, it will be more difficult to fix with two pieces in there instead of one.
On the other hand, my surgeon’s track record seems very good and my discomfort issues are minor and continue to improve. The repair does feel very solid.
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Thanks for adding. Do you have any details on your dad’s surgery? Type of mesh, type of hernia, how long it took him to recover? And any details on your own, the same questions.
One of the major difficulties in learning anything at all about what the cause of the problem might be for those of us that had problems, is that ALL mesh gets grouped together. Even though there are many many different types of mesh, currently and over the years since it was introduced.
Did you have the same surgeon perform your surgery? Did he use the same material and method? Somebody recently had a hernia repair at a VA hospital and, apparently, they are doing the same thing that they’ve been doing for many years. So, it might be that we just need to unwind some of this “progress” and go back to what was working.
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My dad had open inguinal surgery with mesh 20 years ago and has had no issues. I had the same surgery about a year ago and I am still experiencing mild discomfort daily, but it does not interfere with my work or family life and I can exercise. My symptoms still seem to be getting better, very slowly, with time.
I wouldn’t say my experience is a huge success story – but the bulge is gone and I remain healthy and active. Time will tell.
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I know half a dozen people who had inguinal mesh implants and never had any problems at all. The majority of people do not have problems. The 10-20% of patients that do have problems have life altering level issues. Going by the numbers game, the med. industry is ok with a 10-20% failure rate. They still make a huge profit.
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Still looking for any success stories. Some positive stores that might give some guidance.
I just got back to someone I know who said that they had almost forgotten that they even had surgery, after less than a year. Hopefully he’ll have good news after several years.
Any stories will work. The time frame alone might be telling, 20 years ago, versus 10, for example.
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