ajm222

Sure thing. And certainly people have issues. Most people here suspect it happens a lot more than advertised. But it’s hard to say for sure. We’re all flying a bit blind. You definitely get a sense that mesh is terrible if you spend all your time looking here and in Facebook groups reading stories about problems. There’s no good way to survey the…[Read more]

Every surgeon I’ve ever spoken to has said they’re intended to last for life. I have a number of friends who’ve had mesh for over ten years without issues. Mesh is not intended to be redone after a certain short period of time. If someone has complications, that’s a different story. Most apparently don’t.

The repairs are definitely intended to be lifelong. You may hear some people suggest they’re only good for a decade or something, but that isn’t accurate. But as with everything in medicine, the reality is that they haven’t been doing this long enough to have a ton of data on people 20, 30 or 40 years after a mesh repair. Most issues do show up…[Read more]

He says his tissue repair lasted 15-20 years for one and over 30 for the other. But says now there’s no way he would have had them done without mesh if it were available back then.

Felix talks about his tissue and mesh repairs on the HT video with Dr. Towfigh here at the 38 minute mark.

I think most of the patients get involved with mass tort and class action suits when they reach out to law firms. Most of the big firms do not do personal injury suits, where the doctors or hospitals themselves are sued. The firms typically sue the mesh manufacturers on behalf of the client. So they get your information, create a claim file on…[Read more]

regarding that last piece of mesh left behind, i believe i recall you saying in the recent past that it really wasn’t bothering you much anymore nowadays. is it only with vigorous activity?

Yeah, often there is no obvious hernia present at the time of removal due to the ‘scar plate.’ However, there are no guarantees it will hold long term. No real good studies on that. I was told a hernia that was originally indirect was more likely to hold than direct.

Both Belyanksy and Procter advised me that an open tissue repair after removal was definitely feasible and they could do it. Dr. Brown also has done this. And I believe there is a history of Sbayi doing it, too. I imagine there are more out there, including Towfigh. That’s five surgeons just right there, though Brown appears to have finally…[Read more]

definitely not too late. that will be a decision between you and the surgeon you end up choosing. he or she may reasonably want you to wait a little longer to see if you see improvement. 6 months really is still a little early. or maybe not. but i have definitely seen people who have seen improvement at one year and also 18 months. not everyone is…[Read more]

Re: active people having issues – I know plenty of very active people who have mesh and no issues. It may definitely be the case that some people have issues because they’re younger and more active, but I don’t know that that’s a primary cause for the number of mesh issues that are seen.

I don’t have the exact numbers billed to insurance for mine. But I can tell you I paid about the same for removal as I did my original surgery. So many variables, and gets complicated when insurance is involved. So something like 4K give or take a K. But I think I’ve also seen private quotes between 10K and 20K.

I only had mesh (Progrip) on one side – my right. I had an indirect inguinal hernia. I don’t know if all surgeons have the same belief about doing only one side at a time. I had thought I’d heard of some doing both together but not really sure. I’m guessing some will definitely do that. And mine was removed by Igor Belyansky in Maryland. Mine was…[Read more]

oh, and most mesh removal surgeons generally advertise that about 75-80% of patients who go through removal with an experienced surgeon see improvement, about 15-20% stay the same, and about 5% are worse off.

if your mesh was placed laparoscopically, you definitely want it removed robotically. there actually isn’t much tissue removed at all. the trick is the dissection of the mesh from the tissue it has adhered to. it is not an extremely dangerous procedure when done in the hands of the few mesh removal experts who have done hundreds of these. that…[Read more]

My first appt with him was super easy to set up. This was back maybe in the first half of 2019, and he and the hospital do things a little differently now. But I think I sent a letter maybe with no expectations one desperate day, and then got a call just a week later from his office and an appt scheduled just a few days after that in-person with…[Read more]

Lots of great surgeons in that area. One you may consider is Dr. Igor Belyanksy in Maryland. He’s one of the top robotic surgeons possibly in the world, but will also do no mesh repairs. Hernia and abdominal wall expert. Great guy, too, IMHO. I used him for my mesh removal. I also really like Dr. Levi Procter here in Richmond, VA. He also used to…[Read more]

another great hour.

on a somewhat related note, i had mesh removed in february by Dr. Belyansky. he said he got 100% of the mesh out, but I have come across a couple of patients that had been told the same but found out later that wasn’t entirely true. i wonder if really getting all the mesh out is more difficult and uncertain than it seems.…[Read more]

great, thank you very much the clarification!