Patients often ask me if or when they should have their hernia repaired. There is no simple answer except there are a few basic rules of thumb as to when to have surgery for your hernia: if the hernia begins to limit your activities if the hernia is getting larger over time if you are […]
Giant Inguinal Hernias Occur in 0.5% of Patients
As exampled in some of our prior hernia posts, giant inguinal hernias can be very technically challenging. Fortunately, they are rare. This article from Hernia 1999 describes an incidence of about 0.5% of all inguinal hernia repair patients. In my practice, since we specialize in hernia repairs, we probably see hernias of this size in […]
Biologic Mesh for Hernia Repairs?
Patients often ask us about biologic meshes for their hernia repairs. A biologic mesh is one that is derived from either human tissue, or animal tissue. These types of meshes resist infection more than the typical synthetic meshes which are made of a type of plastic. The challenge is that biologic meshes are about 10-100 […]