1. How should a pediatric inguinal hernia be treated? A: The tissue in the inguinal region may make the hernia disappear on its own as the child grows stronger, and there is a certain possibility of self-healing. In China, it is generally recommended that children under 1 year of age should be treated with hernia local strapping or pediatric hernia belt with continuous observation. However, the percentage of such self-healing is very small, mostly within the age of half a year. Therefore, most children over the age of half a year do not heal spontaneously and early surgical treatment is recommended. In Europe and the United States, surgery is recommended as soon as a hernia is detected to reduce the risk of impaction. This view is gradually accepted by the pediatric specialties in China. Likewise, I recommend that pediatric hernias should be seen in a specialist as soon as they are detected. Parents should have detailed knowledge about pediatric hernia and communicate with the hernia specialist to make the most appropriate treatment. 2. What should I do about inguinal hernia in adults? A: Although a hernia can be very long with only mild lower abdominal cramping and soreness, as the disease develops, the hernia mass gradually becomes larger, causing reduced work capacity and inconvenience in walking and activities, which seriously reduces the quality of life. It also affects the sexual life and fertility of fertile patients. Once impaction occurs, if not treated in time, it can cause ischemic necrosis of the hernia contents, intestinal obstruction, intestinal perforation and even life threatening. In addition, as the hernia becomes larger, the treatment becomes more difficult and the surgical complications become more frequent. Therefore, for adult patients with inguinal hernia, my advice is to treat it surgically as early as possible without delay. 3. Can elderly people be treated surgically? A: With the development of hernia surgery and the standardization of tension-free repair using hernia repair materials, hernia repair has become a very minimally invasive procedure. Hernia repair does not require general or semi-body anesthesia, but only local anesthesia for the incision can be done on the same day in an outpatient clinic. The procedure is also very safe for the elderly because it is not fasting, no catheter, no fluids, no bed rest, and has little systemic impact. As a personal example, I have performed hernia repair on a 97-year-old man. Of course, because elderly people often have underlying diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, chronic bronchitis, prostate enlargement, etc., they need perfect preoperative preparation and anesthetic evaluation before surgery. Therefore, I believe that old age is not a contraindication to surgery, but depends on the physical condition and quality of life of the elderly. 4.Does a hernia belt help to treat hernia? A: There are common misconceptions about the use of hernia belts. First of all, the use of hernia belt will bring great inconvenience to life and local skin disease will appear. In addition, long-term use of hernia belt will cause adhesions between hernia contents and hernia sac and increase the possibility of hernia incarceration and increase the difficulty and risk of subsequent surgery, so it is not recommended to use it as a routine treatment. Hernia belts are indicated for those who are old and frail, have a short life expectancy or are otherwise contraindicated for surgery. For patients who can tolerate surgery I do not recommend the use of hernia belts and suggest early surgery. 5. Is the “minimally invasive, non-surgical” cure for hernia introduced online really effective? A: These so-called “minimally invasive, non-surgical” treatments are actually injection therapy, but in a different and more elegant way. Local injection therapy is a local injection of sclerosing agents, chemical glues, biological glues and other substances into the groin, in the hope that the abdominal wall defect will be closed by adhesion. However, this is not the case. Blood lessons from home and abroad have proven that injection therapy not only cannot cure hernias, but can cause serious consequences such as abdominal adhesions, intestinal obstruction, spermatic vascular occlusion, vas deferens damage, and even loss of fertility, and local inflammation and scarring can occur after injection adding surgical difficulty and risk to future surgery. In regular hospitals, this method is no longer used. I am strongly opposed to injection therapy. In China, the incidence of inguinal hernia is very high, but the attention and consultation rate of patients is very low, and most of them come to the hospital for treatment only when the disease has progressed to a very serious level. I hope that through our hernia articles, we can draw people’s attention to hernia diseases and avoid as much as possible the phenomenon of “a small hole not mended but a big hole suffering”.