Good intentions

I will let others comment on the medical aspects, but one main difference is that as far as I know the Kang repair is only performed in Korea at the hospital where it was developed, while the Muschaweck one is performed by several other surgeons, both in Germany and in the Uk.

This was a very interesting talk!
@drtowfigh what is your first line of care with patients with allergies and/ or urticaria? I happen to have both and while not debilitating but only annoying I would consider myself not a candidate for mesh repair or any implant in general…

Chronic pain in general is not fully understood so it is not surprising that the same can be said for SD.
All known risks should be mentioned to the patient IMHO …ideally the surgeon would also mention the plan B if things go south but this is probably asking too much in the inguinal hernia battle field…

I am not sure there is an answer that applies to everyone…
I personally also think that it depends on your lifestyle ie being fit with a strong abdominal core will go a long way in keeping you off surgery.

I think that is the crux of the problem ie whether their claim that healthy tissue forms around this mesh is correct, as opposed to scar tissue which is commonly found in virtually all the other meshes?

Ps: maybe we should have two sections in this forum: one for personal stories and experiences (which will be probably very wild) and another one…[Read more]

One thing perhaps worth noticing is that these plugs were tested on animals (I think pigs), which were then explanted and showed healthy tissue built around (they even published the pictures). They maintain that the shape is the critical aspect together with the lack of fixation.

I came across this type of mesh few years ago as the surgeon is Italian.
From my understanding the surprising observation was that around this mesh healthy tissue grows, as opposed to the scar tissue in the other meshes?
I guess if confirmed this would mean less inflammation as a whole.
The other thing is that the plug is not attached but free to…[Read more]

I think one question you should ask yourself is if you can still do all you used to do, or all that you want to do, with the understanding that the hernia is maybe now preventing you from doing it…

Many doctors will tell you that watchful waiting is not recommended anymore; however Dr. Towfigh has endorsed it (when symptoms free).

Other than…[Read more]

@good-intentions thanks for the link…if I understood correctly there is an ongoing effort to reduce the risk of infection, both for absorbable as well as non absorbable meshes, which is a good thing.

I had the impression though that the main criticism against absorbable meshes was that the recurrence rate was too high, and/or it caused too…[Read more]

What are natural tissue repairs? I have heard of tissue repairs, but not the natural type ones 🙂 you get vegi sutures?:)

I agree with @good-intentions, set the limit (minimum that is) of what you want to be able to do in life: if you cannot achieve it, then surgery may be warranted…(this is what will push me to get surgery actually)

I would also consider exercising as an option first, this may not fix your problems but might improve your body and mind, which is…[Read more]

Quite frankly, the long term performance of the various meshes in the market is not well assessed either…

Again, I have not seen any study that reports high rates of recurrence for the synthetic absorbable meshes after e.g. 3 years….I have heard Dr. Towfigh mention that in her opinion after few years they may start failing, but I could not…[Read more]

@good-intentions

Yes, with Dr. Heniford.

Here is the link to the video

and the relevant bit is after 43:30 more or less….it seems as though Dr. Heniford is in favour of absorbable meshes, whereas Dr. Towfigh has reservations…

It is mentioned in the video above that synthetic absorbable meshes…[Read more]

From my (ignorant) side, what caught my eye was all the different “surgeries” that were mentioned, some of which I never heard of….

BTW are 3d meshes all considered a no-go, or the problems were associated to only a particular type? This also I found confusing, as it seems on the web site that 3d mesh is considered as a viable mesh, but as…[Read more]

Yeah, I am just wondering though whether there are people out there who are researching hernia treatments that do not fall into the two categories of pure tissue hernia vs mesh (surgery) repair….I would be curious to hear what researchers are thinking that might come in the future as an option…

Hi Watchful, what symptoms do you experience now, as opposed to before you did the core exercises?

I have always wondered what could increase the pain of an hernia, and barring nerve inflammation the only thing I can think of is that the “defect” got smaller, while the hernia tissue got somehow more trapped than before…but I am wondering…[Read more]