Why is hernia surgery required?

By Dr. Vinod Kumar Nigam in General Surgery

Apr 13 , 2015 | 1 min read

Why is hernia surgery required?

Hernia causes pain and discomfort & can cause dangerous complications such as intestinal obstruction, strangulation (hampering of blood supply), and gangrene (tissue death) which are life-threatening conditions. It never gets cured itself.

The hernia operation is essentially done to:

Replace the protruded organ back to the abdominal cavity.
Repair the weak area of the abdominal wall through which protrusion occurs.

Usually, the hernia operation is performed by either of the two following techniques

Open Tension-free Hernia Repair: A prosthesis such as polypropylene mesh is introduced from outside to cover the defect. An open operation may be done under local anesthesia.
Laparoscopic Hernia Repair: A prosthesis such as polypropylene mesh is used to cover the defect through the abdominal cavity. Laparoscopic hernia repair is under general anesthesia. Nowadays local anesthesia used is long-acting, so the effect lasts for 4 to 6 hours. The patient walks out of the operation theatre and is soon discharged.

If I do not go for hernia surgery, then can it cause any harm?

Usually, a hernia is a reducible bulge that goes back to the abdomen on lying or on manipulation. Hernia can lead to the following complications:

Irreducibility- Hernia cannot be pushed back into the abdomen.
Obstruction – The intestine in the hernia is blocked.
Incarceration – hernia is painful and not reducible.
Strangulation – pain, vomiting, and inability to pass flatus and stool develops. The blood supply of the intestine is cut off.
The intestine loop dies. It is a dangerous and life-threatening condition

What is a hernia and how does it occur?

A hernia is a protrusion of a body organ through a weak area or a natural orifice through which it does not pass ordinarily.

Usually, the term hernia means abdominal wall hernia. It occurs due to a weakness in the abdominal wall. It may be congenital (by birth) or acquired.

Swelling or a bulge is noticed when the patient strains or stands. Some hernias cause pain and some do not cause any pain. The first sign may be a bulge. You may have discomfort or dragging pain.

What causes a hernia?

The common causes are:

Straining while defecating as in chronic constipation
Excessive coughing
Over strenuous exercises
Smoking causes coughing and deficiency of collagen tissue which causes weakness of the abdominal wall.