Hernia Disease
Hernia disease is one of the most common health problems that people suffer from daily.
Laparoscopic hernia surgery is also an effective treatment, which uses smaller incisions than open surgery and reduces recovery time for patients. When you have an inguinal hernia, it means that your body’s contents are protruding through a weak area in the abdominal wall. A pain, bulge, or lump may develop on one or both sides of your groin. This article discusses how to tell if you have a hernia and what options are available for treatment.
The most common types of hernias are inguinal and femoral hernias. Inguinal hernias affect the groin area, while femoral hernias occur in the upper thigh. Other rarer types of hernia include umbilical hernias present at birth, perineal hernias, which form in your lower abdomen or groin area, diaphragmatic or Hiatal hernias that affect the chest cavity and incisional or abdominal wall defects that happen after surgery.
Take a few minutes to review these frequently asked questions about inguinal and femoral hernias:
Although men are more likely to develop inguinal or femoral hernias than women, anyone can get them.
During the early stages of a hernia condition, you might not notice any symptoms at all. However, when the area becomes more irritated or if the hernia enlarges, you may feel pain in your groin or lower abdomen. You may even begin to feel an uncomfortable lump or bulge in your groin where the hernia is located. This symptom is most familiar with inguinal hernias because they are near your genitals.
Hernia repair surgery uses one or more incisions to repair damaged tissues and return them to their normal position within your body cavity. Your surgeon will replace the protruding tissue into your body and close it with either stitches or surgical mesh reinforcement. Hernia surgery often requires a short hospital stay, and you should expect some time for recovery after your operation.
It is essential to seek treatment from a surgeon specializing in hernia repair surgery. A board-certified plastic surgeon or general surgeon can assist with this type of surgery.
what causes hernia:
1. Smoking – the use of tobacco
2. Obesity, especially in men who are not active
3. The protracted disease hernia is often caused by heartburn which occurs when acid from the stomach comes back up into your esophagus or food pipe, causing a burning or irritation feeling behind your breastbone that this referred to as heartburn.
The main symptoms include:
Stomach pain Pain in the chest accompanied by indigestion Heartburn even after eating Feeling ill due to reflux Dizziness/lightheadedness Nausea Some persons may complain of regurgitation Taste disorders are included with nausea and dyspepsia resulting from chronic heartburn. The onset of heartburn is generally gradual. Still, it can be more severe and sudden.
Prevention:
1. Avoid smoking and tobacco in all forms
2. Lose weight if you are obese
3. Decrease your intake of alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea, chocolate, spicy food, and acidic fruit drinks that can damage the lining of your stomach or esophagus.
4. Eat smaller amounts of food at one time to minimize heartburn after eating
5. Do not eat within 2 hours of lying down to sleep because lying down immediately after dinner increases the risk for acid reflux with GERD. 6. If you think you might be experiencing acid reflux, it is essential to see a doctor determine whether this is occurring or what other conditions might be causing these symptoms.
7. Specific drugs that can help with GERD symptoms include proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole, rabeprazole, and lansoprazole. Other medications that have been used to reduce acid reflux in individuals who do not respond or adequately to treatment with proton pump inhibitors are H2 receptor blockers such as ranitidine and cimetidine.
Hernia symptoms male:
1. Pain, discomfort, or burning around the male genital area.
2. The pain usually involves the penis but can also occur in the scrotum.
3. These are known as scrotal hernias. They are less common than inguinal hernias occurring more frequently among neonates with patent processus vaginalis, which is a defect on the testicles where some of the patient’s fluid-filled sack called a processus vaginalis remains open, allowing an indirect hernia to develop, causing swelling that contains intestines or part of the bowel to pass into it resulting in abdominal wall weakness that leads to the formation of lump near genitals just above the anus.
4. The increased intraabdominal pressure associated with coughing, sneezing, vomiting, lifting heavy objects, or exercise can worsen the pain.
5. When swelling becomes large enough, you may feel abdominal swelling around the area of the lump near your abdomen and hips. Cases can present as acute hernias where a cyst-like swelling develops quickly over a day or two resulting from inflammation that comes from fluid collecting following inguinal injury due to direct blow or indirect force to an area such as falling on a protruding abdominopelvic organ.
6. If untreated, it may result in enlargement of the scrotum to form a lump called hydrocele, an abnormal accumulation of clear fluid inside the scrotum associated with urinary tract infection due to the opening of processes vaginalis, also called gynecomastia.
7. Diagnosis of inguinal hernia is made by the patient’s medical history, physical exam, and imaging studies, including x-ray or ultrasound, to confirm the diagnosis for ruling out other causes.
Types of hernia:
1. Femoral hernia is located in the upper thigh in women and men near the groin crease where the muscles meet, usually caused by weakness in one of two areas found here called femoral canal, which runs vertically down to the groin area.
2. Incisional hernias are located just past surgical incisions with weakened muscles attaching to nearby tissue or organs nearby, which bulge out when increased intraabdominal pressure occurs due to any reason like strenuous exercise, coughing, weight lifting, etc.
3. Umbilical hernias are congenital disabilities present at birth due to incomplete closure of embryonic fissure through which intestines usually pass during development resulting in protrusion of part of the intestine through the weak abdominal wall near the umbilicus commonly found in children aged five years or older.
4. Indirect inguinal hernia is the most common type of hernia, mainly occurs through an internal inguinal ring which is the weaker part of the abdominal wall allowing intestines to pass, resulting in swelling at scrotum with increasing size over time following a direct blow or due to strenuous lifting activities that further increase intraabdominal pressure.
5. Hiatal hernia is the most common type found in adults with weakened spells. Part of the stomach passes through an opening connecting chest to abdomen called hiatus, resulting in severe chest pain, difficulty swallowing, and regurgitation.
6. Ventral hernias are located above groin crease near umbilicus or at chest level due to weak abdominal wall muscle, may result from forceful coughing causing intestines to pass into the area causing swelling that feels like a lump in the abdomen.
Abdominal hernia symptoms female:
1. Swelling in females caused by inguinal hernia feels like a small lump near the groin crease might be associated with bulging tissues around the swelling due to painless protrusion of intestines causing abdominal distension known as scrotal or labial swelling.
2. Other symptoms may include gurgling sounds caused by bowel movements that can be heard through a stethoscope when the abdomen is tapped, bowel movements become difficult, and cause constipation because of increased pressure on the large intestine resulting in stomachache causing nausea, vomiting, appetite loss, etc.
3. Symptoms worsen following activities increasing intraabdominal pressure such as lifting heavy items, coughing, sneezing., which are more common among obese people.
4. Symptoms similar to hernia in males can occur because of indirect inguinal hernia different from direct inguinal hernias, which cause swelling near the groin crease. In contrast, an indirect inguinal hernia causes swelling above the groin crease caused by the protrusion of part of the small intestine through abdominal muscles near the anterior superior iliac spine, causing pain and difficulty in walking, standing up from a sitting position, etc.
Abdominal hernia treatment for females:
1. Hernia repair surgery is done to fix weak spots causing hernia or pushing organs or tissues out, resulting in lump formation due to sewing together areas where there are weak spots with surgical material called mesh for permanent fixation using sutures, etc., can be performed under general or local anesthesia.
2. Treatment involves removing protruding organs back into the body, most common removal procedure done is via herniotomy that involves repairing opening in the muscle wall by suturing tissues to prevent recurrence after dissolving stitches and removing foreign material left behind, postoperative pain can last from 2-3 days to several months depending on the size of the incision.