Health Talk - Hernia #3

Health Talk - Hernia #3

Hi, i'm dr. brad beckham, general surgeon and part of the surgical team at baptist memorial hospital, golden triangle.

This week, we have talked about the symptoms and risk factors of hernias.

Tonight, we will talk about various treatment options available for hernia repair.

It is important to remember that once a hernia has formed the only cure is a surgical procedure.

Hernias will only get bigger with time.

They do not heal on their own or with medications.

In some instances with only mild symptoms or if you are not able to have surgery due to other medical problems a special supportive device may be prescribed to help manage the hernia and decrease the symptoms. traditionally, hernias were repaired using your body's own tissues and stitches to close the hole.

While this worked pretty well for some hernias, approximately 25 percent of hernias repaired this way would come back.

In most cases today, we repair hernias with a manmade mesh that is inserted to strengthen the layers of the abdominal wall.

Using mesh has greatly lowered the percentage of having hernia's return.

Your surgeon may discuss repair through open surgery with a traditional larger incision or througha minimally invasive surgery.

Minimally invasive surgeons, like myself, are frequently able to repair even large hernias through a few very small incisions using a camera and special instruments or even the davinci surgical robot.

The advantage of a minimally invasive repair is less pain at the time of surgery.

You are frequently able to return to normal activity within days instead of weeks to months with open surgery.

Join us next time for health talk with baptist.