Has anyone gotten their hernia mesh removed?

I had a umbilical hernia removed November 2019 which mesh was put in. I very had nothing but problems a bit tender but chronic infection, pus constantly dripping out . most times when I bend over it feels like something cutting in. I had my gallbladder out and my surgeon suggested I remove the hernia at the same time , he said it will be easy, as I am allergic to anaesthetic the muscle relaxant part I agreed . After surgery he said it was very difficult and needed to put mesh in. When I went for check-ups he said it was normal . July 2020 he wanted to put me in hospital and open it up and clean, he wouldn't tell me why this was happening. I decided to see another surgeon who gave me over 20 lots of antibiotics. My belly button was very red crusted and had dead tissue coming through the top of my belly button which he would cut out and give more antibiotics. I think it was December when he repeated this that 2 stitches actually came through , he was sure this is what was causing my infection, but unfortunately it continued. I was booked in to have the mesh removed last Thursday, had my pre op was told they were ready to take me to the operating room when my surgeon came in to inform me my temperature was 37.8 had gone down to 37.5 then 37 so he couldn't do it due to the anaesthetic. I was sent home and yes I was a private patient with insurance. I've been told this surgery is not easy , I am having my whole umbilicus removed. I was then sent up stairs to have a contrast Catscan done where they inject iodine through my belly button but the whole wasn't big enough but the radiologist said she feels she has enough for the surgeon. I go back next Monday and surgery will get booked back in. I have had so many scans which one showed a defect in the mesh. I feel my surgeon really doesn't want to do the surgery he told me he didn't want to but would do it, he told me it was major surgery and on top I have the allergy to anaesthetic.

Hi bob72041 and Esoteric, I am in almost the same exact situation (40 year old very active male in the US) where I was diagnosed with a left inguinal hernia (which may or may not have been the correct diagnosis), and was implanted with a mesh in sep 2020 and have been in a roller coaster of pain since. I am not able to sit for more than 5 mins and cannot stand for more than 30 mins. I tried nerve block with steroids and that made things worse, set me back at least 6 weeks. Any activity I do causes a lot of pain and long time to recover. Some say its nerves but it feels like it is not just nerves. One surgeon is suggesting mesh removal. I am scared to death of a 2nd surgery and very confused as to what to do. Bob72041, did you make a decision on what you are going to do yet? what surgeons have you talked to and what advice have they given you? Esoteric, you had one mesh removal procedure done, right? what was your recovery time from that and your experience for guys like bob72041 and myself? Thanks very much guys and best wishes to all.

-bobbhai

Hi I am a new member and came across your post and yes I am a victim of having faulty mesh implanted in my abdomen

and revision surgery was required for its removal

Hi, I am new to this site but saw this thread and wanted to ask a few symptom relates questions...

I had my first inguinal hernia (left side - open surgery with mesh) operation in 2009 in the UK. Since then, i've been lucky enough not to have any lasting problems. The area around my scar is occasionally numb but nothing major and ive been incredibly fit, active and healthy throughout my 20's.

2 months ago, i unfortunately got another inguinal hernia on the right side. I am currently living overseas with private health insurance so was lucky enough to have surgery within 3 weeks of the hernia appearing. Again, it was using mesh but this time, a laproscopic repair.

It is now 2 months post surgery and ive been experiencing constant pain and aches on my left side (site of first hernia). Strangely, the side i was operates isnt anywhere near as bad. My inguinal canal feels really inflammed but there is no bulge and an ultrasound showed no reccuring hernia. Im very uncomfortable sitting for longer periods and i have had quite intense bloating every day since surgery. After reading these threads I am starting to worry that my symptoms will be here for the foreseeable future.

I realise this thread is quite old now but for those of you who have had mesh problems and are still active, would you mind sharing your symptoms and whether you had any scans/tests to confirm that the mesh was causing you issues?

Dave

Hi Justin,

I'm scheduled to have my umbilical hernia mesh removed this coming monday. Saw you also had yours removed, and that it turned out well for you. My surgeon has very little experience with removing the mesh, but explained it to me as if it would be quite easy. Although, Im curious to know if you had any nerve damage from having the mesh removed due to the scar tissue thats around the mesh. Or any other complications in general.

Of course the surgeon thinks my pain and symptoms are due to everything except the mesh, but I'm convinced I have nerve entrapment in the mesh due to the ongoing pain.

Cheers,

Johnathan

Hello Justin. I had umbilical hernia surgery first time 2 years ago. My hernia was not that bad at the time, just that when it would pop out it was getting harder to push back in. I was dealing with the hernia popping in and out for around 10 years. I am now 58. I did concrete work for 26 years. The reason I got the surgery was for preventing it from becoming worse. Never really hurt to bad at all. KNOWING WHAT I KNOW NOW I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND HERNIA MESH , unless mandatory. The Dr. never really explained this much at all to me, ( consequences of mesh). At times since the so called repairs, my hernia repair as been EXTREMELY PAINFUL. Original Hernia spot Never hurt this bad before mesh was installed. So after first hernia repair surgery with mesh, in the first year there was pain a couple times and a hard round ball about as big as a regular size grape. Well about 13 months after first surgery pain in this spot was worse than a infected tooth that needed a root canal. And on one of these days the pain lasted around 9 hours straight. I had chills, sweating, fluish felling, goose bumps, nausea pain. The worst ever. I have had several surgeries, for example, right knee meniscus, right shoulder rotator cuff, right shoulder bankhart surgery, ruptured right ankle tendon, septoplasty surgery, and a few more. My point is nothing hurt like this so called hernia mesh repair. So I go to Dr. and he does nothing but feel around my hernia repair, no cat scan, x-ray, ultra sound , nothing. Just schedules for hernia mesh repair surgery. Well surgery findings are, hernia recurrence, balled up mesh with incarceration of the mesh. So pain after this surgery HORRIBLE for couple weeks. First 5 days could not even lay down in bed. Slept in recliner. Well that was 10 months ago, and in these 10 months I have been to Doctor twice with exactly same feeling as first hernia mesh surgery. He did cat scan which he says showed nothing. But I try telling him the pain and symptoms are same as before. On one visit he said to me that in rare cases some patients just can't deal with mesh, and may need to repair different way. As I am writing this my repaired spot is terrible pain. Well today his Nurse tells me nothing he can do and must be something else because cat scan says so. Tells me need to go to family Dr. to see what else could be wrong. WOW. Nurse says Dr says that if there was problem with mesh that pain would not go away. So I say to her that is not true at all, and he knows it. They never said that to me when they re-did first hernia mesh repair. In fact my pain was not present at all in week right before first hernia mesh removal and repair surgery. And found out in surgery just how bad it was. Sorry this is so long. YES, they can remove hernia mesh, and if I have this second one removed I WILL NOT be putting in another one. QUESTION? HAS ANYONE OUT THERE HAD HERNIA MESH INSTALLED AND HAVE PAIN THIS BAD? AND PAIN MIGHT GO AWAY FOR SHORT TIME ( MONTH OR TWO) AND THAN PAIN ALL OF A SUDDEN COMES BACK? Thanks. Jerry

I am in hospital now having had surgery yesterday. Ive had dreadful abdominal pain for 10 years. I was told by GP it was IBS and gall bladder problems. I have had so many scans which didn't show anything. it was only a nurse who looked at my large abdominal scar and said it's probably adhesions. Ive had 3 mesh hernia repairs, on the last one on 2010 the surgeon double meshed the whole abdomen. I had a diagnostic laparoscopy. It showed I had my ovary attached to the apendix which was released. The fat behind the hernia attached to the transverse colon, these were released. However the mesh has all bunched up and caught which is as hard as concrete. This is what has been causing the excruciating pain. The surgeon said i will need the mesh removed. She said it big surgery and will discuss it more when I see her in outpatients. However if it gets rid of this pain i will be happy to go ahead.

Hi Justin,

Not sure if you are still watching this topic but I owe you a beer. Pretty much the same journey as you but your posts here pointed me towards Mr Bailey who removed the mesh implant that was ruining my life plus 3 tacks and my ilioinguinal nerve that was trapped in it. 5 weeks later I’m just going through a normal recovery without that persistent scratchy stabbing burning nerve pain.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

hello, i had my inguinal hernia repaired in April 2022 and took a long time to get over very sore and couldnt exercise like i used to. Then in October 2022 I suffered from electric shock type pulsing pain in my lower right leg which goes right through me and stops me from doing day to day activities, this went away after 2 weeks and I though it had gone for good. Unfortunately the electric pulses have started again a year later October 2023! Has anybody else had this pain?? I have a bad feeling its this mesh they have put in me that's causing this awful pain?? Thankyou