Two years later.

Hello john01315

I hear you. My incisional surgery was 6 months ago and my incision was only 2 inches in length. I can identify with you. I was told by my doctor it would take over a year to get back to normal. The incision still itches like crary, I'm still holding my stomach sometimes and it still hurts. It seems like it will it will never get better.

Your incision is considerally larger and I hope you have relief soon. I have learn to be patient, as hard as it is. Be blessed and get better soon.

Hi John (I am guessing you are not in the UK, I am),

Thanks for your post. As with most forums one often only hears about the problems and failures and so it's easy to get a one-sided view of the topic.

I developed an abdominal incisional hernia after surgery at the end of November 2015 to redact a section of my small intestine that had twisted and kinked. I had an infection at the wound site a few days after the operation and they had to open 50% of the wound and leave it open packing it with a seaweed compound to encourage healing. The wound subsequently healed but some weeks, months later, I’m not sure how long, I felt that something was not quite right since my “spare tyre”, which wasn’t big to start with, seemed to be getting bigger and at times it just felt "odd" in that area.

Eventually an abdominal incisional hernia was diagnosed but my GP (NHS) refused to consider a repair saying the practice these days is to adopt a “watchful waiting” approach. I was not happy with that so I went for a private consultation where I was told that I had an incisional hernia in my small midline laparotomy measuring 4-5 fingers and divarication of the recti above the wound.

The private consultant recommended a repair as soon as possible as hernias only get worse over time. He said it could be repaired using the open technique with a sublay or onlay mesh or with the benefit of a laparoscopic technique combined with the open approach to remove the sac and reduce the size of the defect, what he called “the hybrid technique”. 

As the cost of having the repair done privately was prohibitive I went back to my GP and I have at last convinced him to refer me to the appropriate consultant to explore a possible repair.

I don’t know what this NHS consultant will recommend or what technique he would use but I’ve heard so much on this forum about folk who have had long term chronic pain after having had a repair using a mesh that I am cautious about that approach. On the other hand I know that the use of a mesh decreases the risk of a re-occurrence.

So, what to do? I have heard of a number of different techniques each with different re-occurrence rates, risk of chronic pain, etc. and I am trying to gain a layman’s  understanding so that I may make an informed decision.

John, I hope you don't mind if I ask you a few questions:

What technique did your surgeon use to repair your hernia?

Is the mesh sublay, on the inside of the abdominal muscle wall, or onlay, on top of the abdominal muscle wall?

What is the mesh made of?

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Thanks but I am not contemplating hernia repair . we went through that already, I am now, after 11 years of agony demanding the mesh used be removed, but thanks for your input.

Hi John I'm glad to hear that you are having no more problems mine was never diagnosed as a hiatal hernia. but it follows all the symptoms. I feel like I'm getting a lot of resistance from the doctors they want to put me on Gerd medication they want to put me on Nexium without really finding out what's at the basis of it. a perfectly normal woman very healthy low blood pressure and all of a sudden I'm having these symptoms and they don't seem to want to examine it with a scope I have to convince them of things and it's very frustrating

As I have said I am trying to heal it myself but I am very active and it's hard for me to keep still for a long period of time which I know I have to do to get well

All best,

Hi John01315:

Thanks for the encouragement. I have a herniated incission from a spleen removal and had it repaired with mesh in Mexico this time last year. When I returned to the States I had the drain removed and that started a horor storey. It seems the wound became infected and they actually reopened it to have it heal from the inside out with a machine called Acti-Vac. This destroyed the mesh and

I'm sitting here waiting to have it repaired a second time. I'm hoping all goes well.

Best Luck

Ron