I absolutely do not want hernia mesh (until I’ve talked with Dr. Harris)!

As discussed previously, I’m not a surgeon that will try and talk you into something. The same goes for using mesh during your hernia repair. Although I won’t operate without using a hernia mesh, I certainly don’t want to force you into having mesh used during your surgery. There are certainly other options (locations and surgeons) for you if you don’t want mesh. However, most patients are uninformed about hernia mesh. Many patients have concerns and ask questions about hernia mesh: “I’ve heard of lawsuits due to mesh” is a common topic which is raised. There is an abundance of negative information online and throughout the patient community on all of the risks and complications that can be associated with the use of hernia mesh. However, there isn’t clear, easily understood information about the benefits of using mesh in hernia repairs. We hope that by reading the information below, you’ll understand more about why hernias occur, why we choose to use mesh for most of our hernia repairs, the benefits of using hernia mesh, and some of the actual risks of hernia mesh.

How Hernias Form:

As discussed elsewhere on our website, hernias are caused by a tear in the muscles of the abdominal wall. Once the muscles tear, fat and internal organs push through the muscles to create a ‘hernia’. However, before the hernia completely develops, there is often a period of prolonged weakening of the muscle over many years. After some amount of time, ultimately the muscle gets to the point of being too weak to support the internal organs, the muscle tears, and a hernia develops. Therefore, it’s important to understand that hernias are not usually just a simple tear in the muscle which is surrounded by normal healthy muscle. There is usually a surrounding area of muscle weakness around the actual hernia.

Why ‘Primary’ Repair or ‘Tension’ Repair, doesn’t work:

Over many years and through 100’s of medical studies, surgeons have learned that when the muscles around a hernia are simply sewn back together and closed ‘primarily’ (tension repair), hernias recur at a very high rate. This makes good sense since hernias develop due to a weakening in the muscles all around the area of the hernia. By simply sewing these weakened muscles back together, surgeons basically are just pulling together thin, damaged muscles to repair the hernia. Over time, the muscles continue to weaken, the tear in the muscle returns, and the hernia ‘recurs’.

Why Mesh is Used:

To help reinforce weakened muscles in the area of a hernia, meshes were invented to implant into the surgical site. By implanting a mesh into the area of weakened muscles, the body creates scar tissue which brings strength back to the weak damaged muscles around a hernia. Medical studies have shown that long term recurrence rates of hernias repaired with mesh (tension free) are about 10x LOWER than those hernias repair ‘primarily’ (tension repair). Most studies show a recurrence rate of about 20% without mesh, and about 2% with mesh. Thus, 1 out of every 5 hernia patients who don’t have mesh used have a recurrence of their hernia. If that isn’t enough to explain the usefulness of hernia mesh, patients can look at the NIH published a study done by the Cochrane review which showed that the recurrence rates of hernias without mesh is about 20%. Patients that have mesh, the recurrence rate is about 1-2%.