What is Dr. Harris’ complication rate after hernia surgery?

A lot of patients ask what our complication rate is after surgery. Although we don’t keep a formal database with our patients complications, I can tell you that in 2013 we had one patient develop a recurrent hernia after a laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair. So far in 2014, we had a recurrent hernia in a patient after open surgery which was discussed in one of my previous posts. In addition, in 2013 we had 3-4 patients that we gave oral antibiotics for a small amount of redness at the incision site a week after surgery. As expected, all of these patients recovered quickly and their redness went away within days. So far in 2014, we have given antibiotics to one patient after surgery for some mild redness of the incision. So, with our center operating on roughly 500 patients a year, our complication rate is about 1%. This is exactly in line with large medical studies which show a complication rate of infection and recurrent hernias at 1%-2%. Even though our statistics are possibly better, I still always quote patients “1%-2%”. If you study patients for 10 years out, some recurrences happen later than the first months or year after surgery. Plus, as expected, some patients don’t return to the first surgeon that originally repaired the hernia. Whether they feel that the surgeon didn’t do a good enough job, or they’ve relocated, I’m sure there are patients that have had a complication I don’t know about.