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A hernia is defined as a defect
in the anterior abdominal wall.
So it's really a hole in the fascia
and it allows the organs from the
inside to protrude to the outside.
Symptoms of a hernia are
bulging, pain, and pressure.
A hernia tends to get worse with things
like heavy lifting or prolonged standing.
It tends to increase over time
and they tend to be relieved
with lying down or not exercising.
In general, when a hernia has contents
in it such as fat or bowel, especially,
then it's time to go ahead
and get that issue fixed.
When you do fix elective hernias
such as inguinal hernias or smaller,
abdominal wall hernias,
you usually will use a piece of mesh.
And mesh has been shown to decrease
the incidence of a recurrent hernia.
It's an outpatient surgery.
The surgery itself doesn't take very long,
say, about an hour or so
and you do go home the same day.
Activity levels are pretty much back to
normal fairly quickly except for no heavy
lifting for about four to six weeks.
But we encourage patients to get home,
to do this as an outpatient,
to go up and down steps,
to bathe, to shower,
to get back to some sort of normal diet.
And generally, people
tolerate it very well.
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