Preface
Inguinal hernia is the most common disease in my daily practice. For the treatment of this disease by day surgery, the pre-surgical examination is completed in the outpatient clinic, the appointment is made, the surgery is performed on the same day of admission, and the patient is discharged the next day. The department has developed a very efficient and safe treatment process.
The following is a summary of various questions collected from parents and answered in a unified manner.
Clinical manifestations of inguinal hernia
Inguinal hernia is a common disease in children. The typical manifestation is the appearance of a mass in the inguinal region of the child when crying, which can disappear when quiet.
Pathogenesis of inguinal hernia
It is believed that the child’s abdominal muscles are underdeveloped and are unable to hold back the pressure when the abdomen is strained, causing the intra-abdominal organs to protrude into the inguinal region.
Is it possible for inguinal hernia to heal on its own?
In some children, the protrusion of the hernia is small and infrequent, and may heal spontaneously as the abdominal muscles develop with age. However, this is a very small percentage of children. Most require surgery.
Can an inguinal hernia be treated conservatively, for example, by compression with a hernia belt?
Theoretically, compression of the inguinal area with a hernia belt to block the defect will prevent the hernia from coming out and will heal itself over time as the muscles develop. However, this is not true from the point of view of actual use.
The reasons include the following.
1. If the hernia belt is worn too loosely, it does not provide compression, and if it is too tight, it is very uncomfortable
For boys, the hernia belt compresses the protruding part of the hernia mass, which is also the passage of the spermatic cord, and the compression also causes obstruction of blood flow to the spermatic cord and affects testicular development.
3. Individual parents do not pay attention to the fact that after the hernia block is out, they still wear the hernia belt under pressure causing ischemic necrosis of the intestinal tube under pressure, resulting in serious consequences.
There are also individual manufacturers who make the so-called Chinese medicine into the hernia belt, claiming that it can cure pediatric hernia, which is even more scientifically unjustified. Therefore, the accepted method of treating pediatric inguinal hernia is now: surgery.
The best age for inguinal hernia surgery
Different doctors have different opinions, some say at least two years old, and some even say five years old before surgery is appropriate, which are old and outdated concepts. Nowadays, the best age for surgery is around half to one year old. If the attack is frequent, it can be done at a younger age, provided that the operation is performed by a specialized pediatric surgeon and a pediatric surgical anesthesiologist.
How to choose the type of inguinal hernia surgery
Many parents learn through the internet that there are two methods of surgery, a laparoscopic surgery and a traditional surgical method, and often struggle with how to choose. As a pediatric surgeon specializing in pediatric surgery, the advice is that you just need to find a professional pediatric surgeon who will perform the surgery with a successful outcome, little scarring and little possibility of recurrence. Each of the two surgical approaches has its own characteristics, so let your doctor choose based on the actual situation.