Inguinal Hernia

Overview

An inguinal hernia is a swelling in the groin caused by a weakness in the abdominal musculature. The hernia usually contains fatty tissue or bowel. It protrudes out during physical exertion, standing up or coughing.

Image from Pepermpro/Adobe Stock

Symptoms

Pain
An inguinal hernia can be uncomfortable or painful.

Unable to reduce
Early on, inguinal hernias can be pushed back into the abdomen. In the late stages, the hernia can get stuck and cannot be pushed back.

Intestinal obstruction and damage
In the advanced stage, the bowel within the hernia may get obstructed or damaged, and cause life-threatening health problems.

Treatments

Inguinal hernias are best treated with surgery. The aim of surgery is to push back the hernia into the abdomen and strengthen the abdominal musculature with a special mesh.

Inguinal hernia repair (By BruceBlaus – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46636556)

Depending on the size and complexity of the hernia, we can offer the following surgical techniques:

Laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery:
Three small incisions are made in the lower abdomen and the surgery is carried out using special instruments. In general, the recovery after operation is faster after keyhole surgery , compared to open surgery.

Open surgery:
An incision is made in the groin, through which the surgery is carried out. The size of the incision depends on the complexity of the surgery.