Terrifying shouldice repair story – is open mesh better?

[Joe]

thanks to all who gave advice. One of you fellows posted a link to a surgery done by Koch who as i understand it is one of the best at doing shouldice? He may have done Dr. Lorenz surgery – but seems he butchered Baris pretty good. Do you guys think open mesh may be a lot safer than all these tissue repairs? Koch is supposed to be one of the best but Baris got a terrible result. Watchful got a bad result at the place kaspa recommends shouldice hospital –and Oceanic doesnt look that great either with his shouldice by conze who many recommend- I never knew this surgery was so difficult? I was told routine. Chuck Taylor seems to say open mesh may well be the safest – any other opinions welcome. Maybe Kang is safest? I dont know what to do? And pinto is seems that kang published figures saying about 16 plus percent of patients had pain from his surgery a year later? Hoow am i mistating this?
It’s quite worrisome and depressive reading [USER=”2468″]Baris[/USER] such bad experience in Germany.

People who search for Dr. Koch want a non-mesh repair and most of them are thinking about Desarda, but I think Desarda is the repair least done by him.

Anyway, I thought that he could tell before surgery which repair would be most suitable in his opinion, either by examination, or requesting any exams.

Deciding on the operating room for a mesh or non-mesh or Desarda or “modified” Shouldice doesn’t look nice.

After reading this I think that one can get the surgery one wants only if they go to specialized clinics like Desarda’s in India, Shouldice in Canada, or Dr. Kang in Korea.

When searching for surgeons I found one in Germany that could do some 8 repair types with training in lots of Clinics throughout the world. I discarded him right away because only a superman could be enough proficient in so many repairs… Any normal surgeon would do any of them once in a while and hardly would be that proficient.

I really hope Baris is finally in good condition with his repair in Shouldice after so many bad experiences and spending so much money with all those experiences.

All this makes me think twice as my hernia is only esthetic, everything working fine and zero pain. Even if esthetic is quite important too and makes me miss a lot the time I had my groin area in perfect condition and didn’t know I lucky I was.

[Watchful]

Joe,

If the only issue for you is the cosmetic aspect, and the hernia is stable and not giving you trouble, I would stay away from surgery.

There are two elements to increasing the chances of success with the surgery. One is choosing an excellent surgeon with a lot of experience. The other is picking a procedure which is a good fit for your case. It’s all easier said than done, and even if you make the right choice of surgeon and procedure, it’s still a crapshoot, and you may end up with chronic pain or other issues. Do your homework on the procedure and surgeon, and then (as Chuck says) pray hard.

[pinto]

@joesmith, welcome to HT! Please clarify: “And pinto is seems that kang published figures saying about 16 plus percent of patients had pain from his surgery a year later? Hoow am i mistating this?”

Are you saying I had pain from my surgery a year later? That is completely false. Maybe you overlooked my correction of Good intentions’ misreading of my posts. Never never did I ever state or imply I had pain post-op. Quite the opposite for not only one but two surgeries. Read my lips: my post-ops have been painless. It would be nice if you acknowledged your mistake.

[sensei_305]

@ Pinto, I been reading your responses and honestly do not understand why do you sound like an asshole brother. Who are you to be asking someone to acknowledge their mistakes? Are we 12 over here?

[Good intentions]

If you end up with chronic pain you won’t care at all about how perfect your groin area is. The risks of hernia repair are much greater than the medical community exposes. Hernia repair is high volume revenue. In business terms it would be called a cash cow. It just keeps generating money, day after day.

“All this makes me think twice as my hernia is only esthetic, everything working fine and zero pain. Even if esthetic is quite important too and makes me miss a lot the time I had my groin area in perfect condition and didn’t know I lucky I was.”

[pinto]

@sensei_305, 😀 😀 you’re no sensei. This forum has no place for your foul language nor ignorance. Maybe you should enroll in a local anger management course to rid yourself of your demons or the juice you’ve evidently been imbibing too much. Best of luck to you.

[Oceanic]

Joe I would definitely watchful wait if I were you, if you have no symptons just keep an eye on it and enjoy life, leave the surgery until you really need it.

This is definitely not routine surgery and sometimes ruins peoples lives although the odds are still in your favour for a sucessful outcome, I’d rather have had open heart surgery than hernia surgery though.

I’m too close to surgery to predict the outcome, I think the post surgical swelling is the cause of most of my discomfort, I’m optimistic when this goes down I’ll be OK. I’ll update my thread each month on the anniversay of my surgery until the one year mark

[William Bryant]

That’s kind of you Oceanic as a lot of people are eager to hear about the German surgeons so I’m sure it will be appreciated.

For what it’s worth, and I’m not the cleverest on this forum by far, I do think you are right in that it’s too early after surgery to expect to be pain/niggle free. I’ve read others saying they were okay after 2 months, 6 months even a year – so here’s hoping you improve day after day.

I’m pretty much doing as you advise Joe as my symptoms seem quite minor at present and I don’t want to risk that for a far from certain outcome.

However I’m aware that it will need a repair at some stage and I am modifying behaviour by not carrying much.

[pinto]

@Oceanic, I’m sorry to hear you’re having a tough time of it. You took an awesome challenge but not the first. At this point it might be hard to see the daylight clearing ahead but I’m sure it’s coming for you and you have favorable odds considering you went with a great surgeon and method.

Your advice is spot on. We gotta give watchful waiting a shot because any surgery is risky. I’d like to add this point though—that’s all fine until the hernia makes everyday living uncomfortable—esp. if you favor pure tissue repair. Then hernia size factors importantly as Dr. Lorenz pointed in out his recent video screened here.

Doctors who say they personally have one and wait seem to have non-consequential ones—easily ignored. In my case I was set on waiting but bam—suddenly it grew and I knew I had better get surgery. I’m really happy I did. At that time I saw a lot of conflicting info about it. Now looking at the totality of info I’ve seen on it, I’m convinced that if you favor tissue repair, the sooner the repair, the better. @Joe, you seem to be content that you have no pain. I think size should be more the determinant. Good luck.

[Oceanic]

I was going to watchful wait while I researched surgeons and the type of repair to have, but the pain then started, it may have gone away with time but it was masssively affecting my quality of life and testicular pain is just miserable.

I just thought post surgery pain can’t be any worse, well it was for a few days but it’s much better now. As has been said above I’m confident with time it will get better, the scar tissue adhesion going forwards is what makes me nervous but I’m doing all I can to try and alliviate that. Time will tell but thanks for the encouraging words Guys and I’ll keep you posted. I think Dr. Conzes work is good its just my bodys reaction/swellling to this much trauma. Healing takes months and from what I’ve read from other peoples experiences of tissue repair good milestones are 6 weeks, 3 months and then 6 months. A postive outlook cant be underestimated too in the way you heal.

[pinto]

Dear @Sensei_305
You didn’t DM me an apology, a grown-up thing to do, did ya? Children should not be here without their parent’s permission. Sure signs you’re a minor:
–your toy racer avitar
–your choice of a grown-up name (sensei)
–your childish behavior calling others 12-year olds
Listen: if any adult DMs you asking to meet offline, DON’T DO IT. Show the message immediately to your mother for your own safety.

No matter if kids at school brag how they trick grown-ups online, you must not do it. Talk with the counselor at school; maybe you are lonely and have no friends? For here at HT, please get your mother’s permission to participate. And if you really are a patient, then get her help about messaging here. We are happy to help. (Tell your mom too, she can DM me anytime.)

[G]

Joe, very detailed and well written post with some very enlightening responses. Kudos.

[Author]

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