Patient Question: Disease: Pediatric inguinal herniaDescription: Pediatric inguinal hernia, which appeared 3 times at 6 months of age and then retracted on its own. He went to Guangzhou Children’s Hospital to see a surgeon, who recommended surgery. I would like to ask if it is too early to operate at 7 months? When is the most appropriate time for surgery? Hello, first of all, we need to clarify some concepts. For the treatment of inguinal hernia in children, surgical high ligation of the hernia sac is the only effective treatment method. Its pathogenesis is like a hole in a piece of clothing that needs to be closed by sutures, which is a very simple physical principle. The commercial advertisements that are often available on the market at present, saying that taking medicine, injections, drinking herbal medicine or injection therapy can cure hernia are pure bullshit and deceitful, please do not believe them easily. We recommend surgery for hernia in children as soon as possible. Many parents worry that their children are too young for surgery. In fact, our surgery for hernia in children is very traumatic and will not cause any adverse effects on the child, not to mention the fact that we use minimally invasive surgery methods. So when is the best time to operate? In fact, the main factor governing the appropriate age for surgery is anesthesia, because our minimally invasive surgery uses general anesthesia with tracheal intubation, which requires a high level of anesthesiologists. Our anesthesiology team, under the leadership of Director Dai Zaishen, has strong technical strength and can perform general anesthesia for many infant patients and even newborns just one or two days old, plus we have accumulated a lot of experience in the anesthesiology department by performing a large number of hernia surgeries in children over the past 10 years, so anesthesia for infants and children is quite safe. In addition, many parents ask whether general anesthesia for children will affect their intelligence. The answer is no. Because the use of anesthesia in children is strictly trained and regulated, there are strict indications on what drugs can be used in children, and there are no reports on the effects of anesthesia on intelligence at home or abroad. On the other hand, we have performed more than 3,000 pediatric hernia cases in the past 10 years, jokingly enough to form an army. In summary, hernia surgery in infants and children under general anesthesia is safe and effective, and many hospitals in Europe and the United States operate on children one week after birth. In many children, the surgery is done at 1 to 3 months of age.