Inguinal hernia is a common disease in the elderly, and statistical surveys on surgery in the United States and Europe show that the proportion of elderly people among patients with inguinal hernia treated surgically is 22%-35%. A survey on inguinal hernia in Shanghai showed that the total prevalence of inguinal hernia was 3.6‰, and the prevalence in people over 60 years old was as high as 11.3‰. The proportion of elderly patients who finally received surgical treatment was even higher. It can be said that inguinal hernia is a prevalent disease in the elderly population in China. A hernia occurs when some organ or tissue of the body, mostly the small intestine, leaves its original site and enters another site through a weak spot or defect. Hernias occur most often in the abdomen, and inguinal hernias are the most common, accounting for more than 90% of all extra-abdominal hernias. Why are older people prone to inguinal hernias? This is because of the morbidity characteristics of hernias. Inguinal hernias occur for many reasons, mainly because of increased intra-abdominal pressure and reduced abdominal strength. Most elderly people have chronic cough, prostate hypertrophy, chronic constipation and other diseases, which lead to a long-term increase in abdominal pressure. In addition, the muscle atrophy of the elderly makes the abdominal wall weak, and the inguinal area even weaker, plus there are blood vessels, spermatic cord or uterine round ligament passing through the abdominal wall, which provides a channel for the formation of hernia. With care, it is relatively easy to detect an inguinal hernia. If a mass appears in the inguinal region (i.e., the root of the thigh), which appears when standing, walking, coughing or working and disappears when resting flat, the possibility of an inguinal hernia should be considered. Crushing and hidden pain in the inguinal region is a common discomfort. If left untreated, the hernia may gradually increase in size and affect daily life, and sometimes the small intestine may fall into the hernia sac and become embedded, which can be complicated by acute abdominal pain, intestinal obstruction, intestinal necrosis and other serious consequences. At present, many people have misconceptions about the treatment of inguinal hernia, believing that it does not affect life, so they think it can be treated or not. The elderly are especially reluctant to undergo surgery for fear of pain, anesthesia, etc. However, once inguinal hernia cannot be retracted, it can lead to intestinal obstruction and even intestinal necrosis and perforation, which can be life-threatening, with a mortality rate of about 15%. With the advent of aging society, more and more elderly people are suffering from inguinal hernia, which can easily cause serious complications if not treated in time. In addition, elderly people often have a variety of concomitant diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. These diseases not only pose a threat to the health of the elderly, but also, and more importantly, pose serious difficulties and risks to the treatment of hernias. Therefore, patients with inguinal hernia, especially the elderly, should be operated actively and should not wait until the disease is serious before surgery, because early surgery is relatively easy and shorter, and the surgery can be performed with local anesthesia which is less traumatic, less painful and faster recovery. Of course, for those who are temporarily unable to operate due to the combination of other serious diseases, they can also be treated conservatively first, and then operate after they get better.