Mike M

Alan I am glad to to hear your operation was uneventful. Heres to you feeling better soon and a perfect follow up!

@Chuck

@Chuck

I searched for the surgeon that did your repair last night. I was pretty astonished to see how credible he seemed with countless videos, news briefs, and articles. I also found a lawsuit without another patient. We all go into this knowing there could be complications but the way you described your case is rather frightening in…[Read more]

@Chuck

Pain tolerance for me is probably pretty normal / typical.

I had pain the first few days like most people with no mesh open tissue repair. It fades overtime. First day was as most people described, rough, moving micromillimeters at first to get to the bathroom etc, but by the start of the 3rd you can get around pretty decent but still…[Read more]

@Watchful

It really depends if he has to absolutely do it (for emergency purposes) before we make it back to South Korea or not.

We are planning to go back next year.

notanewbeeok – it sounds like your experience with surgeons / high level medical staff is similar to mine. I was able to observe from “behind the scenes” as an enterprise technical engineer and administrator covering multiple main campuses and 100+ offsite professional locations. I engaged with high level staff resolving all types of technical…[Read more]

Mesh seems like the “easy way out” for a problem that should have multiple viable solutions for patients.

How many of these “no mesh” failures are attributed to the following?

#1. Poor surgical skill, ability, and/or training?

#2. Bad technique i.e. “Corrupted Bassini”, too many modifications to the standard Shouldice technique, etc.

#3.…[Read more]

@Chuck Also in regards to the structure being back to 100%.

Scar tissue is unidirectional vs. bidirectional.

My understanding is because of this the tissue is about 70-80% of what it was previously. However when you add in structure like permanent sutures and the fact the procedure attaches to other parts of the body in that area to provide…[Read more]

@Chuck

The only thing I couldn’t do after a few weeks of recovery was run. I run just fine now (not because of pain though). Lifting, coughing, etc. I couldn’t feel it after the recovery period. I did a little exertion after the recovery period but my goal was to take it easy until after 6 months, which is when the tissue has fully healed from…[Read more]

Alan – Reach out to Stephen Kwon prior to your trip if you have not already. Stephen is awesome and a great resource for overseas English speaking patients. He will make sure your trip goes smoothly.

I stayed at the CoEx which had everything I needed within walking distance (including a mall below the hotel). Rates were pretty reasonable through…[Read more]

@Watchful I jumped around a bit on the discussion and over simplified. The point I was trying to make is Dr. Kang’s ideology is the tension from the hernia repair is not the primary issue but instead the failure to directly close the hernia hole itself. This was apparently common place with a lot of older non-mesh tissue repair methods.

@chuck It is definitely hard to decipher who is telling you the truth. Circling back I think the biggest issue is with doctors pushing mesh exclusively and have limited experience in open tissue non-mesh repairs. It seems like these doctors are closed minded to the success, updated methods, as well as the solid history of successful open tissue…[Read more]

@Watchful – Tension issue. You’re just closing the area and resolving it to the state it was in prior to the damage occurring. If I cough, pop a hole in my wall forming a direct hernia what’s the big issue? Prior to the “pop” there was already my body’s natural “tension” Right? So the tension free side is stating there is no way to effectively…[Read more]

Grischkan states 20k repairs not 230k repairs. He is used as a legal expert witness so the number of repairs he has completed is most likely part of a court record somewhere. Whether or not he is good or bad? I have no experience outside of my first consultation. My experience with Dr. Grischkan was very positive despite choosing Dr. Kang.

“mesh…[Read more]

@peterc

My Dad had an extremely bad liver reaction post gall bladder surgery. The Cleveland Clinic was the only place that was able to find a resolution which was unknown prior to his arrival. He went to countless specialists all over before it started becoming a life and death situation. The Cleveland Clinic doctor who discovered the issue…[Read more]

@notanewbeeok

I had zero issues communicating with Dr. Kang in English up to and including the last thing I remembered in the OR before surgery. Translators like Stephen Kwon are there to help expedite communication and add clarity if needed. I am fine with a doctor’s primary field of study being hernia repair and not linguistics if I am going…[Read more]

Pinto situation was the fact he had a very rare “sliding hernia”. It was corrected and Pinto’s follow up review was extremely favorable towards Dr. Kang.

The best compliment I can give Dr. Kang is he is what is advertised.

Kang procedure is minimal and extremely effective. Dr. Kang operates on all cases, old, young, low/normal/high bmi,…[Read more]

Dr. Grischkan was the first doctor I met with regarding hernia repair. He has done 20k+ repairs. The outpatient facility is attached to his office. There were a lot of thank you letters (some very recent) on his wall as you walk in from some big names.

He is very popular in the body building community for repairs. He doesn’t use gore-tex 100% of…[Read more]

I would call Dr. Grischkan’s office and see if he can provided a recommendation or point you in the right direction.

He has served as an expert witness (hernia doctor) for…[Read more]

That is great news Chuck! I credit you to pointing me in the direction of Dr. Kang first. He provided me with the best possible outcome as well. Hopefully others struggling with similar circumstances will see your post as an inspiration to keep pushing until they find the right solution for them.

The closest specialist I am aware of near the Oregon / Washington region would be the owner of these forums – Dr. Towfigh located in Bev Hills, Cali. (310) 358-5020

She has a lot of different options available and is a modern pioneer in the field.

I would be extremely careful when selecting your surgeon. There have been many not so positive…[Read more]