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top hernia in wisconsin
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Hello, fellow mesh patient from Wisconsin…
Now unless I’m mistaken, I have found there to be no surgeons in WI with experience removing lap placed inguinal hernia mesh unless it was infected(flat mesh not plugs mind you).
I’ve seen Dr goldblatt who is a very nice guy & sincerely cares about his patient’s safety which you can tell by just meeting with him, but he haden’t removed my type of mesh before(I wish he had done even just one removal cause that was the only deal breaker there).
So I moved on to see Dr Greenberg who is also a nice guy but a little more wooden seeming personality-wise. He had only removed plugs or umbilical hernia mesh TAPP(no flat pre-peritoneal mesh), usually only when they were infected & only when he was replacing it with phasix for a trial I believe. He was no longer part of a trial at that time so… He sort of dismissed me with a suggested gluten intolerance, saying further that hes never had to remove inguinal mesh like mine before..?
I do believe however that both of these guys are great at putting the stuff in, but goldblatt has far more experience in years as a surgeon.
I hope this helps, please let me know of any removal surgeons in Wisconsin that I may have overlooked Dr Towfigh… -
top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Gardner, It looks like from your response that either you or your insurance allows you to see almost anyone in the world unlike most of us. I mentioned Germany for another reason if you are local to UW Health.
Pick up the book Unaccountable. Your statement about seeing the Director of Surgery at leading teaching facility reminds me of a chapter in the book. He could have done the surgery but maybe he had not performed a hernia surgery for years or a resident did your surgery. Who knows but the surgical team. Its hard going into a supposedly minor surgery and coming out in pain and changes your whole life and than dealing with hopefully getting it fixed so you can move on. I remember when my wife was driving me to my first hernia surgery I was kind of day dreaming and started thinking of the old nursery rhyme humpty dumpty, maybe it was sixth sense and I should had her turn around.
I read the post but I could not find were it stated Dr. Greenberg did the surgery, maybe I missed it.
As someone who”s parents and myself were born at the old UW hospital, grow up in the dirt when they were building the current facility our family had many Dr. friends as neighbors and they stated if you need basic surgery go to General or Methodist but if you need cutting edge go to where Dr Greenberg practices.
Dr Greenberg might be the best surgeon,( who seems to be very thoughtful and honest) in the nation but there are many how do this all day long and have done hundreds if not thousand of removal’s’ instead one here and there.
Get a copy or review all of your medical records, I was shocked when I reviewed mine.
Wish you the best, it is a hard decision to make. Beenthere!
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Gardner, Sorry that you’re going through this.
If you are thinking about re-do surgery I think it’d be prudent to get a few opinions from a few different experts, preferably each with a good amount of re-do and experience with possible mesh removal if that is deemed necessary.
There are a lot of names mentioned on this forum with experience, many on the west coast like Dr Towfigh and Dr Chen in LA. Surely there are others on the east coast and midwest as well.
If you are going to Germany or London you might want to see Dr Ulrike Muschaweck who gets a lot of traffic from global sports stars for groin pain and hernias. She does re-do surgery and mesh removal in some cases as well.
Keep us updated on your progress and decision making.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
I was talking about one specific hospital. In the study by a j Russ on post hernia surgical pain done at this facility. In the text i was 1 percent off (24) is the correct number. I may be reading it wrong, since i am not that smart.
Also two fellow Doctors at this facility in two different departments stated that they know it could be as high as 30% again only at this facility. One also stated that the facility was putting together a committee to find out why the figure was so high and outcomes were so bad.
Please google the study and if i am wrong i will say so. I stand by the numbers for now.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
To clarify, the studies show a 20% rate of ANY pain at 3 months postoperatively after open inguinal hernia repair with mesh. The prior comment is not acccurate.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
These are good questions to think about and to ask. 25%-30%? Wow, I did not know that. Is this an official/RCT finding?
With regards to my original repair, it was done by the head of surgery at one of Harvard’s teaching hospitals. I wanted someone with the most experience and best recommendations. I know it is sad that the outcome was not what I expected, but what can you do about it, aside from moving on?
With regards to Dr. Greenberg’s experience in removing mesh items through TAPP, he has done a few removals. I do not remember how many. You can read a testimony of one successful surgery by him here:
I did share the Ultrasound .gif file on this website, I did not receive any particular comments with regards to the ultrasound. Perhaps, the ultrasound imagery is too non-specific.
You mentioned Germany – yes, I did go to Germany this summer and talked to a surgeon (not the one in Munich). He said there is nothing anyone can do for me now except wait – if the bulge that I have is a recurrent hernia, it will eventually get bigger and will become self-evident. If the bulge that I have is calcified mesh – it will eventually get firmer and will be more visible on the scans. If the bulge that I have is some kind of an inguinal mass (lipoma), it will get bigger and will become more self-evident with time.
Or, I could go under the knife with exploratory and then find out what this bulge is.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
It sounds like you are still seeing Dr. Greenberg.
Where did you have your original surgery?
Did you ask him how many total hernia surgeries he has done since he was licensed in 2011(I think that is the correct year) This is the Dr. doing them. Since this is a teaching hospital a large percent can are done by residents.
Outcomes of the surgeries?
What were the percentages of complications? What type of complications?
How many triple triple neurotomies he had done? Outcomes?
How many mesh removals he has done? Outcomes?
What are the odds that you had your original surgery done by a teacher of your present surgeon over 1,000 miles apart. If I found out that my current surgeon was trained by the surgeon that caused my problems, I would be out the door and never return.
Did you get the proper type of Ultrasound and MRI?
Maybe Dr Towfigh could review the images. It takes a true specialist.
Do they still have a 25 to 30% post surgical pain 1 year post op from hernia surgery?
Maybe they could send you to Germany to have it done. I guess only star athletes get that special treatment.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
I had good experience with Dr. Greenberg in Madison so far. Of course, UW Health as a hospital is not Shouldice (they do surgeries other than only hernia repair) but Dr. Greenberg is way above his peers in the state comparatively. Few points to add here:
– Unlike so many other surgeons out there, he agrees that mesh causes problems more often than not and that mesh removal (especially mesh plugs) is a warranted procedure.
– He is against the use of tacks in securing mesh in pre-peritoneal surgery.
– In evaluating my chronic groin pain, he questioned the judgment of the original surgeon who put a mesh AND a plug into the body of 6ft1 tall 195 lb man (myself). He believes in avoiding mesh plugs in the inguinal ring by all means possible. Mesh patch AND a plug is just too much mesh to handle.
– The original surgeon who repaired my inguinal indirect hernia was one of Dr. Greenberg’s teachers in Boston. Questioning your own teacher is what I’d call independent thinking.
– He is very clear about explaining the drawbacks and benefits of mesh removal. Many surgeons who remove mesh do not talk about the effects of mesh removal on vas deferens. Mesh removal could be a zero-sum game, where your pain is gone but so is your fertility.
Yes, of course, I am a bit discouraged that I still do not have a clear diagnosis for the re-grown lump in my inguinal ring and groin pain. But he is not keen on jumping to conclusions too quickly (which is professional, I think) – after two ultrasounds and an MRI, there is still no clear indication of what my lump is. Among hypotheses are: scar tissue growth around the plug, or lipoma regrowth, or small recurrence. Without an exploratory laparoscopic (which I do not want), there is probably no way to know for sure.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Sorry for the delay in answering. I prefer not to say, but it was one of two in Florida that came highly recommended. One has since moved. Good luck on your search. Again I recommend the book Unaccountable to read about practices in US medicine. Should help out with very direct questions to ask to your doctor.
My redoing of the original surgery has been a great success for the past fours years but my original hernia occurred from coughing, so every time I cough or sneeze I always am concerned.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Been there
Where did you finally get your repair done?
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Dr Towfigh,
I am going to respectfully disagree with you.. Maybe things have changed.
Again, I refer people to the book Unaccountable and there is a chapter of Hospitals and clinic hanging the sign out that they specialize in an area but it is just a sign and the patients suffer or worse. As far as I know there is no standard for any Dr, clinic, hospital to be quote certified as a specialized clinic just a marketing department and ad budget.
I was one of the first patients in UW Health Complex Hernia Clinic. After research and being bounced around for a year, I could cut through the BS from the medical professionals like a surgical knife through skin. I held off until my insurance changed and went to another state for corrective surgery.
Do a google search on Post Hernia Pain when using alt. saline solution, done by AJ Russ on outcomes at UW Health. According to two of my Dr.s they still had issues with this late in 2012. The two Dr.s in other areas stated it was closer to 30% 1 year post hernia pain from this Hospital.
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top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Wisconsin:
– Jacob Greenberg
– Matthew Goldblatt -
top hwrnia in wisvonsin
Avoid UW Health at all costs. Up until 2012 had a known 25% post surgical pain. According to their own resident exit survey, residents do a very high percent of the surgeries. Dr. Goldblatt in Milwaukee. If you can travel look at the names that keep coming up on this site and go to them.
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