What Is Hernia
Hernia is an abnormal condition in which an organ pushes through an opening in the muscle or tissue. Hernia has become a very common disease now. Generally, it appears in the abdomen, hips or chest area. Sometimes, hernia can also appear in the groin area and the upper thigh. This disease can affect both men and women. However, men are more prone to this problem. In some cases, babies can get hernia as well. Experts believe that obesity is a major contributor of hernia. If you are overweight, you have a higher risk of developing hernia.
The death rate due to untreated hernia has reduced drastically over the past decade. And the credit goes to various advancements including the introduction of laparoscopic treatment in the medical sphere, which has helped the doctors to save millions of lives. There are various ways to treat hernia. But laparoscopic surgery is considered as the best and most effective treatment.
How Hernia Laparoscopic Surgery Is Performed?
Studies suggest that every year 20 million patients suffering from hernia undergo surgery. Out of which, a large percentage of patients experiencing hernia symptoms prefer to undergo treatment. Before the surgery, the surgeon explains every precaution one must take before the surgery to minimize the chances of complications as much as possible. Some precautions include not taking particular medicines and restrictions on diet.
On the day of the surgery, the doctor also suggests not to eat or drink anything a couple of hours before the surgery. After proper diagnosis, the doctor first injects anaesthesia to sedate you. After this, the surgery is performed. During the laparoscopic hernia repair, the surgeon inflates the abdomen with CO2 gas in order to see clearly inside the abdomen.
After making some small incisions, the doctor inserts a long, thin and flexible tube with a camera on its top (also known as laparoscope). With the help of the laparoscope, the doctor performs the surgery and then places a mesh on the gap to support the weakened area of the abdominal wall. This laparoscopic surgery finishes with closing the incision with adhesive glue, sutures or staples.
Recovery After Hernia Laparoscopic Surgery
After the laparoscopic surgery, you can return to your daily routine very quickly (sometimes in two days). Quick recovery helps you in getting back to the things you enjoy in life such as work, career, exercise and socialize. However, after conventional or open surgery, recovery takes a little longer time due to cuts, stitches, pain and soreness around the wound.
Moreover, to support surgical recovery, you need to take precautionary steps to avoid the recurrence of hernia. Below are the important points that you should keep in mind.
Diet
Diet always plays an important and big role in your wellbeing. Yous should take special care about what foods you should add to your diet and what to avoid post hernia laparoscopic surgery. Sometimes, it becomes difficult for you to digest solid foods due to the anaesthesia that is administered to you before the surgery starts. Hence, you should put yourself under a liquid diet in the initial days of your recovery after consulting with your doctor. Usually, after analyzing the condition of a patient doctor allows the consumption of solid foods accordingly.
Effect Of Anaesthesia
Anaesthesia takes some time to wear off completely post your surgery. Local anaesthesia may take a few hours and complex anaesthesia may take a few days for their effect to subside completely. Hence, you are recommended to discharge from the hospital only when the effect completely withdraws. During this time, you are not advised to drive. Also, make sure that you do not sign any important documents at this time as well.
Combat Pain
The surgical area remains sore for a couple of days and it is normal to experience mild pain. However, if you feel severe pain, take the pain-killers prescribed by your doctor. There can be some side effects of the medicines as well. Hence, if you feel itching, constipation or difficulty while urinating, do not panic. They are for a short period of time and resolve on their own.
Bath
Usually, your doctor suggests not to take bath for 2-3 days of the surgery as it may cause the operated area to get wet. You should take shower rather than a bath so that you do not wet the wound too much.
Exercise
It is suggested to do some light exercise such as walking or climbing the stairs. Because this stimulates your bowel movements and relieves out constipation. You can also start an exercise plan, but talk to your doctor about it first. You should practice deep breathing exercises as they supply oxygen which helps in speed up the recovery.
Sexual Intercourse
Usually, there is no restriction on sexual activities post hernia surgery. Post the surgical procedure, you may feel pain and discomfort around the incision area for a week. If you feel pain during any particular sex position then stop it right away. Talk to your doctor about it as he/she can help with that.
Resuming Daily Life Activities
You can go back to work as soon as you feel no pain or discomfort around the incision area. However, if your work involves lifting heavyweight, then taking rest for a couple of days post treatment is important for you. Take enough rest as you can get tired easily. Do not exhaust yourself.
These are the Do’s and Don’ts during recovery period:-
Do’s
- Wash your hands thoroughly before touching the wounded area.
- Let the glue dry and flake out on its own.
- Change dressings as per your doctor’s instructions.
Don’ts
- Wet the wounded area until the stitches or sutures dissolve completely.
- Wear tight or rough clothes that can rub the wounds.
- Get worked up if you see the drainage from the incision.
Also, laparoscopic surgery causes less inflammation than traditional or open surgery. Open surgery causes larger inflammatory reactions as compared to laparoscopic which increases the chances of patients getting bacterial and viral infections. Another rare known benefits of laparoscopic surgery is that the incisions cause fewer adhesions in comparison to open surgery. Adhesions are the bands of scar tissues that form between abdominal tissues and organs. They can cause infertility in men and block the normal activity of the intestine when they are large.
Effectiveness Of Laparoscopic Hernia Surgery
Laparoscopic surgery is performed by highly experienced, skilled and extensively trained hernia specialists. There are various benefits of hernia laparoscopic surgery this includes:-
Less Bleeding — Laparoscopic surgery involves less bleeding because the size of the incision during this procedure is very small in comparison to the large incision in open surgery. Small incisions decrease the chances of severe blood loss.
Less Pain — Since the size of the incision is small, it decreases the risk of pain during or after the surgery. Therefore, you don’t need long-term pain relief medications.
Less Scarring — The small cut leads to the formation of a smaller scar post surgery. In larger surgical wounds, the scar tissue that forms are more prone to infections. Also, it is more vulnerable to herniation in overweight and obese patients.
Lower Risk Of Infection — During laparoscopic surgery, exposure of internal organs to external contaminants is less than open surgery. Hence, the risk of postoperative infection is very less. Also, the size of the incisions are very small. So, there is a low risk of infections as well.
Short Hospitalization — The period of hospital stay is shorter with laparoscopic surgery. Because the healing process is very quick. After the surgery, usually patients get same-day or next day discharge. Which allows them to return to their daily routine much more quickly than after open surgery.
Conclusion
Looking at the success rate of laparoscopic surgery and the advantages it offers, it can be said that the laparoscopic surgery of hernia is the best treatment available in India. If you are looking for laparoscopic surgery for hernia, you can schedule an appointment with Pristyn Care as it has the country’s top surgeons who have mastered the art of laparoscopic surgery.
