Alephy

Also at the moment I have minimal pain i.e. I can walk/train etc. The discomfort is occasional but not stopping any activity yet (it is also true that I am 50 and I am not certainly running for the Olympics:)
This is to say that I would not bargain this with a worse off situation just out of doing it quickly….

Well certainly better Shouldice than mesh. But I would like to try and find a surgeon who does the tailored approach that Dr. Brown discussed on the forum few times i.e. someone that can adapt to the hernia type etc. Say I happen to have an indirect one instead of a direct one, perhaps Shouldice would not be the right option or at least few less…[Read more]

@dianew indeed I will not! I wish I could have all this behind one day but in the meantime it will be watchful waiting…I’d love to go back to my previous routine without which it is like not being me, which is depressing…but I have urticaria and so I cannot run any risks….all the doctors kept saying it’s not a problem but even if allergy…[Read more]

Hi Alan,

Well this is exactly the point against mesh i.e. where is the data? I mean, long term data showing pros and cons of the meshes (the very many that are circulating…)? I think many also made a point that chronic pain is mostly a mesh phenomenon (papers have been mentioned in the forum many times)…
As for the tissue repairs they have…[Read more]

@pszotek Thanks a lot for your reply! You mentioned that at times you reinforce the tissue repair with a biological scaffold when the patient’s tissue is too weak: is this like a bio mesh that is reabsorbed or something else altogether?
It is the first time that I hear of such a reinforcement…

Thanks a lot again!

Hi all thanks a lot for your comments! The problem is in Switzerland the health insurances cover up to a point so I cannot get surgery out of the country. All the surgeons I spoke to insisted on mesh (they may mention pure tissue repair but they don’t do it). One or two doctors 1h by train from where I live do Shouldice but have not seen them yet.…[Read more]

Ah thanks I did not read through enough:)

Hi @good-intentions yes I read it, tragic and it kind of resonates with me…
I have not had any surgery yet and I am on watchful waiting. I also have no intention to get a mesh (even if all went well, it would remain at the back of my mind as a potential source of nightmares afterwards), but in case of an emergency (where pain or whatever spirals…[Read more]

Thanks for sharing! What was the mesh-less procedure you had on the left? Shouldice? (you may have posted it alreasy but the new forum is difficult to navigate)

ps: I can relate to the depression part, it is difficult (I keep blaming myself for the hernia as it keeps nagging me that I could have avoided it with more care)

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for your replies! Yes I have been on this site long enough to have taken in the whole spectrum.
I asked lots of questions at the beginning and still more questions pop to my mind. I myself have small inguinal hernia(s) (the left one is not clear and at the very least without symptoms) and a small umbilical one. I have not…[Read more]

I am not sure I can attend given the time difference, but I would have few questions:
1) how come most doctors talk about a “hole” rather than a weakening when speaking of direct hernias?
2) why is there little consensus on watchful waiting? This also means that the advised treatment changes depending on the doctor…
3) It is often quoted that an…[Read more]

I would also like to know…

So no one really in Switzerland 🙁

I think for some hernias it could just be fine…for some others not if the tissue is too compromised. But this is what many are saying here including doctors: there should be a tailored approach rather than one fixes them all ie mesh. The number of cases is also a problem