Ultra pro mesh removal?

[Herniahelper]

I think there’s some confusion here. I’m going to assume that you had an inguinal hernia and that you had a piece of fat protruding through the abdominal wall defect known as a cord lipoma. Very commonly encountered in hernia surgery. The presence or absence of it isn’t really relevant to how difficult it will be to remove the hernia system. The hernia system is essentially a bilayer mesh. One portion of it is on the outside, and another portion is on the inside of the abdominal wall and then it is connected by mesh. It’s somewhat of a difficult system to remove because it sandwiches the abdominal wall. You have all the risks of disturbing the anatomy on the front, and then also risks of disturbing the anatomy behind the abdominal wall.

So to summarize the bilayer nature of the hernia system that you have probably has a greater impact on the difficulty of removing the mesh then whether or not a cord lipoma was encountered during your initial surgery. If the only comment on your surgical report was that a cord lipoma was encountered I suspect that your defect is small and that maybe your system is small and that may make it slightly easier if your burden of mesh is smaller.

In all honesty I don’t think it matters. Whether or not nerves are damaged from or during the procedures, and whether or not you can achieve a good hernia repair after it is removed and a defect is created are greater questions.

And some of those depend on what damage has already occurred as well as the skill of the surgeon and also just luck.

Who is the plastic surgeon?

Does he have a lot of experience removing mesh?

Do you know if he’s planning to do a primary tissue repair after the removal?

You mentioned he specializes in nerve repairs, is he planning any type of ‘nerve repair’ for you?

This is all very interesting and please update us on your progress. The community would love to know what kind of success you have with this person.

[Good intentions]

The Hernia System is a very aggressive approach to hernia repair and it is surprising that it was used for lipomas.

Good luck with the removal. Because of the large area covered, on both sides of the abdominal wall, and the fact that a plug, effectively, was used through the internal ring, your recovery will probably take a while.

[Unknown Member]

Thanks for the response, I am gonna have the mesh removed in the next 6 weeks in Houston by a plastic surgeon who specializes in nerve repairs, i think you misunderstood my question, I wasn’t asking if it’s a good idea to have my mesh removed or for anyone’s opinion, that’s already been settled, it’s coming out, my question was since the mesh was for fatty tissues ( lipoma of cord ) would that make it an easier recovery and procedure, I assume the procedure based on where it’s at and the lipoma, I didn’t have to look very hard to find a surgeon who says he can remove it in 2 hr surgery, and says he can get all of it out.

[Herniahelper]

There’s not really enough information here to know whether or not removing your mesh is a good idea. I would just suggest that you seek the opinion of several experts that have practices devoted to remediating hernia problems.

If you do decide to have your mesh removed please come back and post here. We would really love to know who you saw and how it went.

[Unknown Member]

Thanks for the response, the reason I am gonna have it removed is because of pain and other autoimmune issues. My implantation involved cord lipomas, not any intestines, wondering if that makes this removal a little easier?

[Herniahelper]

Question is what’s the likely problem? I think the short answer is yes the anterior and posterior components of the mesh can be removed. A bigger question might be does it need to be. When you start proposing bigger dissections and less targeted approaches I think there’s more potential for complications.

As posted above the fact that Dr. Towfigh was able to remove a plug and patch and the individual is now pain free is extraordinarily impressive.

[Good intentions]

Is it the plug or the “Hernia system”? They are both open surgeries, that put mesh inside and outside the abdominal wall. So, surgeons like Dr. Kang or Dr. Brown or Dr. Petersen commonly do those types of removal. Dr. Meyers at the Vincera Institute also.

There are probably laparoscopic surgeons who could remove it also. Dr. Towfigh has removed plugs before. They are difficult to remove, they entangle with critical structures.

https://www.jnjmedicaldevices.com/en-US/product/ultrapro-comfort-plug-surgical-hernia-mesh

https://www.jnjmedicaldevices.com/en-US/product/ultrapro-hernia-system

https://twitter.com/novitskyyuri/status/1021596087600271360

plugs are evil and should not be extrapolated as all things "mesh"

— Yuri Novitsky (@NovitskyYuri) July 24, 2018

[Unknown Member]

Thank you for your response! I just verified it’s not the plug, it’s the ultra pro hernia system, rectangle on top and round on bottom, with a cylindrical tube like structure connecting the top mesh to the bottom side, 3 dimensional. But it’s definitely not the plug.