ajm222

Also meant to mention these doctors that Dr. Belyansky suggests besides himself:

Dr. Yuri Novitsky (New York)
Dr. William “Bill” Meyers (Pennsylvania)

Dr. Belyansky is wonderful. I’m considering surgery with him in the fall. Consulted with him several times in person and on phone. His staff is also awesome. He’s arguably one of the very best at this, and most experienced. And you absolutely want that for such a major surgery. Other specialists rave about his technical skills. And his bedside man…[Read more]

dr. belyanksi has never had any of his removal patients lose a testicle yet. dr. towfigh explained that in experienced hands this was a very unlikely thing to happen. just one of those risks they want to make sure people are aware of. so i think with experienced surgeons it is rare or very rare. though i did just see a man on facebook who had his…[Read more]

all surgeons i have spoken with, including dr. belyansky, have indicated that the area being operated on is not at all close to the nerves involved with sexual function. there should really be no direct risk of impotency or erectile dysfunction with the removal surgery. a small risk of the surgery is potential loss of a testicle, but if you only…[Read more]

i’ve seen a number of studies that followed a variety of patients for quite a long time, and there seems to be a fairly big drop off in pain after about 3 years compared to 6 months or 1 year. doesn’t necessarily mean everything is perfect (though in some cases it might), but I do think for some it can take quite a while. so i wouldn’t necessarily…[Read more]

I’ll say that the regular pain and soreness for me did lessen quite a bit after a lengthy period of time – at around a year and eight months.

This is very helpful info. Confusing though as to why I have tightness and discomfort and pulling after a robotic mesh repair. Seems like that would be very unusual. Not much pain and soreness, though some. But mostly just foreign body stuff. Very frustrating and it’s making me very hesitant to get removal despite knowing it definitely must be the mesh.

Yeah, at two years I still don’t quite understand things. Seems sitting just leaves me stiff and a bit sore in my lower abdominal area. And I sit all day long. Definitely not back to ‘normal’ though I’m not sure what that even is anymore. And yet some days things aren’t too bad. So variable. It could just be the sitting all day every day that’s th…[Read more]

sorry, still confused by the layout. meant to reply to the post above. as for the safety of the procedure, i think it’s one of those things that, in the right hands, it’s technically considered safe, typically with good outcomes. but it’s a totally different animal than a routine hernia repair, with more that can go wrong, and less certain…[Read more]

“curious if you had your mesh removed wouldn’t u have to replace it with something
Either stitches or another mesh”

so in many if not most cases it turns out surprisingly that there is enough scar tissue created by the reaction to the mesh that even once you remove the mesh itself, it’s still possible to be left with enough scar tissue to hold t…[Read more]

Just a quick update: finally made a decision (at least for now) after a 20 minute phone call with Dr. B. today. He was kind enough to call because all of my questions via their portal lead him to believe I had enough uncertainty that some time on the phone was warranted. I had basically made up my mind before the call but he helped me feel better…[Read more]

Just a quick update – I have still be vacillating daily about what to do. I’ve been sending questions to Dr. Belyansky through the app portal, the latest of which asked what the likelihood is that there will in fact be enough scar tissue to hold things in after removal. I had thought this was highly likely, but realize now it may have been too…[Read more]

this is old but a thread i re-read constantly as i prepare to potentially have my removed soon.

maybe @drtowfigh can comment, but i was told that i’d likely no longer have a hernia even after removal because the robotically-placed mesh would normally create a ‘scar plate’ that would remain after removal and hold things in. sounds like @vtjbrent…[Read more]

any updates to your recovery?

I’ve spoken to two surgeons in my area that do mesh repairs, and Dr. Belyansky does them as well. And of course Dr. Towfigh. I think there are a fair number of surgeons who do them, they just don’t do enough for it really to be their thing. And I guess if you get a tissue repair you want someone who does them all the time. Dr. Brown of course also…[Read more]

i had also seen studies and anecdotal evidence suggesting progrip actually, generally-speaking, had better outcomes than other types of mesh. and perhaps that’s on average true. but maybe it just has more potential to cause problems in those whose bodies tend to overreact to an implant.

it’s fascinating (and scary) that i learn something new every day. hadn’t really considered the fact the progrip would be the source of more pain given all the little velcro-like prongs used to keep it in place, but it makes sense. with the advice of my surgeon we chose that type specifically because tacks wouldn’t need to be used, and i had read…[Read more]

dr. towfigh has responded to a similar thread saying she’s really one of the only people who does lap or robotic pure tissue repair i believe. she said dr. belyanksy and dr. jacob and maybe another are interested in learning this from her. otherwise, i think most tissue repairs need to be done via open method. so if you have lap or robotic…[Read more]

thanks.

also, i did just manage to change my password. stuff is there, just a little tricky to find.

thanks. yeah, and Dr. Towfigh also seems to have gone quiet after an initial big push to get this up and running (understandable when your day job is being a very busy surgeon). Hopefully they are in fact working on improvements. Probably no money in it, but the import and amount of activity related to this site would probably make it worthwhile…[Read more]