Ask an expert: Can an inguinal hernia heal without surgery? – Online interview

In our latest online interview, we spoke with highly respected consultant general, HPB, and laparoscopic surgeon Mr Christian Macutkiewicz, who shared his expert insight on inguinal hernias. The leading specialist discusses the symptoms of inguinal hernias in men and women, and reveals how surgery is used to treat the problem.

0:00 What is an inguinal hernia?
1:28 What are the symptoms?
2:46 Can an inguinal hernia be treated with surgery?
4:10 How long does it take to fully recover after inguinal hernia surgery?
5:17 Can an inguinal hernia heal without surgery?

To schedule a consultation with Mr Macutkiewicz, visit his Top Doctors profile today: https://www.topdoctors.co.uk/doctor/christian-macutkiewicz

✔ Follow us on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3fSrqXb
✔ Follow us on Facebook: https://bit.ly/3t5kGsW
✔ Follow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/39TidKh

So an inguinal hernia is a bulge or a um a defect developing in the groin this is a normal defect that we have uh from childhood because are if you’re a male uh that’s where your testicles descend through the groin into the scrotum and in females the round ligament of the

Uterus is suspended in an inguinal Canal it’s called the inguinal canal and these hernas uh can develop when you’re young uh and Adolescent but they can also develop when uh you are in the adult uh age bracket and it’s because uh you either have a weakness already still

There uh or you develop a weakness because of either your profession or uh advancing age so it’s a an it’s a normal weakness that we have during development that usually closes off um but it often opens up and they are the commonest uh type of hernas most patients who develop

An inguinal hernia usually feel a bulge in the groin and that’s your first real uh uh positive sign that you have a hernia early symptoms are burning or stinging or an ache in the testicles um and those are the early signs uh of an inguinal hernia so as I said uh previously the

Early symptoms of an inguinal hernia are burning or stinging in the groin uh you can sometimes get a an ache in the testicle on the side that the hernia is developing and some patients who uh do a lot of driving they find that they have

A bulging feeling or an an ache in the groin when they’re doing lots of driving so they’re the early signs um as a hernia develops you you see a bulge it’s an obvious uh bulge where your groin is um and then as hernia develops bigger you find that the Bulge goes down into

Your testicles into your scrotum and so patients find that their scrotum uh is enlarging and that’s uh called an inguinoscrotal hernia that’s a inguinal hernia that goes into your scrotum in ladies you often find just a bulge where your groin is uh but inguinal hernas in ladies are not very common and actually

Those are more important to treat uh because they have higher risk of complications so we usually like to treat those sooner rather than later and all the European hernia Society guidelines say that we should do that yeah so um most inguinal hernas are treated with either Keyhole surgery or

Traditional open surgery um open surgery is a cut in the groin it’s usually a small small cut in the groin uh over where the Bulge is and we push the Heria back inside we separate it from the spermatic cord and then we uh strengthen your muscles with a mesh um the other

Way of doing it surgically is with Keyhole surgery where we put a port um 10 mm Port uh just near the belly button and then some other little 5mm ports uh to allow us to put instruments in side you tummy and then we fix the hernia from underneath so we pull the hernia

Inside we separate it from all the structures and then we usually put a mesh in between your abdominal wall muscles and glue that in place and um both of those are the surgical approaches and in patients who are not fit for surgery or who don’t want

Surgery um there are some uh nice truss or undergarments uh that you can buy on uh web sites that have uh sponges which keep the hernia back inside and for patients who are unfit for surgery I usually recommend these that’s a good question so um the two approaches of surgery have slightly

Different recovery so the open approach um is obviously a cut in the groin and uh the muscles are separated to be able to put a mesh in that tends to be more painful um and the all the uh guidelines are for no heavy lifting uh for six

Weeks because it takes six weeks for the muscles and the tissues to grow into the mesh and for you to be uh for you to have the maximum strength Keyhole surgery uh usually has a recovery of about two weeks quicker um a lot of uh athletes prefer to have Keyhole surgery

Because they can start doing uh light training after a couple of weeks and that’s uh light jogging light cycling but no heavy lifting and uh for both surgeries we really don’t want any heavy lifting or yoga Pilates or anything that really switches on the core muscles uh for four to six

Weeks inguinal hernas are a defect uh in the abdominal wall muscles and in the tissues so they don’t go on their own it’s not something that physio can reduce however if you have a weakness in the muscles that’s sometimes called a posterior wall weakness you can strengthen that with physio um but a

True hernia will never really go away without surgery