According to the latest survey and medical reports, more than 5 millions of American are victims of Hernia. This disease is something that you should never take lightly especially when you are getting old. But don’t worry, hernia is also curable. With the help of this blog, I will help you understand about the hernia, its symptoms and most importantly the hernia surgery.
What is Hernia?
When a body organ or fatty tissue squeezes enough to pass or leak through the surrounding muscle, it creates a lot of trouble for your body. This process is known as a hernia, putting into the simple words sometimes your body organs mostly intestine get displaced and protrudes through a weak point from their original place. Intestine gets displaced from abdominal through a weak spot in the inner muscles. In most of the cases, Hernia causes a bulge or lump on that particular body area of the patient that is easily visible.
Types of Hernia
There are multiple types hernia including inguinal (inner groin), incisional (resulting from an incision), femoral (outer groin), and umbilical (belly button), and hiatal (upper stomach).
Inguinal Hernia
In this case, the bladder or intestine get protrudes through the abdominal wall and moved into the inguinal canal in the groin. The inguinal hernia is one of the most common among men, and almost 96% of the groin hernias are found inguinal.
Incisional Hernia
In this type of hernia the intestine pushes through the abdominal wall located at the previous abdominal surgery site. Incisional hernia is very common among the elderly and overweight people that are physically inactive after the surgery.
Femoral Hernia
This type of hernia is most common among the women specifically the pregnant and obese ones. A femoral hernia occurs when the intestine enters into the canal holding the femoral artery in the upper thigh of the body.
Umbilical Hernia
In this one, a part of intestine passes through the abdominal wall somewhere near the naval area. Newly born babies and women with obesity or given birth to many children are the most common victims of this type of hernia.
Hiatal (hiatus) Hernia
This type of hernia occurs when the upper part of the stomach squeezes through the opening in diaphragm named hiatus through which esophagus passes.
Inguinal Hernia is found to be most common among the patient and according to the reports it expected to rise in the coming years.
Symptoms of Hernia
Initially, hernia is nothing more than a swelled body part that comes with constant pain and requires no immediate medical attention according to most of the people. However, the hernia may become the cause of restless pain, discomfort while standing, straining or even lifting the things. When swelling becomes permanent, and pain crosses the threshold people decide to go to the see the doctor. In some cases, hernia needs to be treated with immediate surgery instead of medication.
Here are the symptoms of hernia you should know about
- Pain
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- The bulge that cannot be pushed back into the abdomen
What causes Hernia?
Most of the hernia cases are the result of weak muscle opening or facia and heavy pressure on that muscle. The combination of an opening in muscle and pressure gives birth to hernia inside the human body.
Anything that making heavy pressure on the abdominal causes hernia
- Lifting heavy objects without stabilizing the abdominal muscles
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Persistent coughing or sneezing
What about hernia surgery?
A hernia patient should consider the surgery as early as possible to prevent further damages and get relief from the pain. When diagnosed with hernia you should see the hernia surgeon instantly and ask his/her advice. The surgeon will guide you through your condition and when you need to have the surgery. In some of the hernia surgery, there are only a few stitches required to fix it.
Talking about the surgery there two types of hernia surgery one is open surgery, and the other is laparoscopic surgery.
Open surgery
In this type of hernia repair, the surgeons close the hernia using sutures, mesh, or both. After closing the hernia, the wound is in the skin is closed using sutures, staples, or surgical glue.
Laparoscopic
Laparoscopic Hernia Surgery repair is used for treatment with repeated operations to avoid the scars from previous surgeries. This type of surgery is more expensive and way more complicated.
Infections after Hernia Surgery
Usually, infection occurs in 7 to 8 per cent of patients following open incisional hernia repair surgery. In laparoscopic surgeries, the infection rate drops to 0.98% to 2%. So best and suggested method of Hernia Repair surgery is laparoscopic Hernia Surgery.
Quick Facts About Hernia
- Small hernias does not show any symptoms.
- In medical terms hernia surgery is known as herniorrhaphy or hernioplasty.
- Hernia surgery are usually day surgeries, patients can go home within hours
- Hernia surgeries are mostly safe and effective
- Hernias are more common in males
Surgery is the only way to repair hernias