The operation lasts for about one hour and the child can return home the same day the surgery was performed. Overall the child must spend around five hours in the hospital, but if any complications appear at least one day of medical supervision is required. No visible scars will remain on the child's skin because all the work is done under the skin. Also there are no stitches that need removing but there is going to be a covering tape over the incision, but it will fall or it can be removed after a few days from the surgery. In some cases dried blood gathers under the tape but that will also be gone. At many children who suffered a hernia surgery the scrotum has swallowed a little and it was also bruised, but this is a normal side effect that disappears is a few weeks.
After one week or so regular activities can be performed again, but the child should not do any sporting activities, or to the gym class until the doctor says its ok to do that. The child can go to school the second day after the operation but tell him not to do any activity that involves physical effort, in fact he should not lift anything that weights more than 10 pounds for four weeks from the surgery. When it comes to bathing, a shower or a sponge bath can be done but only after 48 hours pass from the surgery. A normal bath cannot be done in the first five weeks that pass, but the child can bathe or swim freely afterwards.
Most of the children do not suffer from great pain after the surgery and almost everything returns to normal in a few days, but if any pain occurs he should take pain relievers. These are prescribed by the doctor who performs the surgery, in the case that pain appears.
In conclusion, hernia surgery does not have any dangerous side-effects, but if you suspect anything or if the child has a fever that does not drop, or an unusual bulge appears around the surgery scar, contact your doctor for further information.
Many people, no matter what age or sex, suffer from one type or another of hernia. Hernia occurs when because of a muscle failure or weakness the tissue underneath the muscles protrudes through a hole that it makes, creating a bulge. The cause of hernia is generally the fact that in time muscular tissue is getting tired and worn, so they lose resistance and tear. If somebody suffering from hernia ignores it, and many do so because in the beginning the pain in the area where the bulge appears is not disturbing, the disease will grow and will start to be a real problem. The bulge created by the hernia may not hurt first but it does cause quite some pain after some time, especially if the person that has it coughs, bends, or lifts something heavy.
So in most hernia cases a simple surgery is needed and it will fix everything. If the doctor recommended you hernia surgery then it would not be wise to delay it because complications are likely to appear. The lump can fill with fat and trap the intestine inside it, causing severe digestive problems. (when hernia blocks or traps another organ it's called strangulated hernia). If this happens surgery must be done immediately because severe hernia complications are life-threatening.
Fortunately, because millions need hernia surgery each year, the surgical tehniquies have greatly improved in the last few years, and new tehniquies are researched continuously. Before, the surgery was a more complicated process that caused pain sometimes and that required a lot of time dedicated to the recovery, but now hernia surgery does not hurt at all and the recovery time is much shorter.
Hernia surgery depends on the type of hernia that the patients have, methods slightly differ from situation to situation, but there are two major tehniques designed to remove hernia:
-laparoscopic herniorrhaphy - the doctor makes two very small incisions through which he inserts special surgical devices that he controls through a remote-control and that fix the problem. This method leaves almost no scars after everything heals
-open herniorrhaphy - the doctor makes one big incision, fixes the hernia with surgical instruments controlled by his hands not by a remote control and then sews the hole in the muscles through which the bulge came out. This method may leave some scars after the wound heals.
After the surgery a small recovery period follows, and patients are prescribed some medication and a special diet that they must hold on to for a few days until digestion starts to work as it normally should. After a few days patients can start walking, but running, exercising, or other sporting activities are forbidden for about five weeks.
Hernia surgery is an easy surgery that millions go through and that does not present any complications in 99% of the cases, so there's nothing to worry about if you need to be operated for hernia, but you have a lot to worry about if you keep delaying the surgery until complications show up.