Hernia specialist
Are there specialist hernia surgeons?
It’s not really a question of specialising (only operating on hernias) – it’s a question of expertise and interest. It’s also about ‘volume’. How many hernias are they operating on monthly.
How expert and skilled is that person at repairing a hernia. How much real interest do they have in this area of surgery. Do they keep up with developments and attend professional meetings and hernia conferences. Most importantly do they follow their patients to see how well they do. and do they know their own results?
Some of the best hernia surgeons I know – starting with my colleagues – the board of the British Hernia Society – do other surgery (at which they are technically expert) – and they are all real hernia ‘experts’. I would be happy for them to operate on me or a member of my family.
Most specialist hernia surgeons agree that the surgeon is a really important factor. To get consistently good results, low complications, a low incidence of post-op pain, you have to be repairing a lot of hernias.
To quote Professor Schumpelick, a well known hernia expert from Germany –
“I think the surgeon is a risk. If you have a bad surgeon, you will have bad results with every technique”
So my final bit of advice :-
Choose your surgeon, not your technique