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When you talk about hernias, there are various classes of hernias aside from where they might be located. Hernias can either be congenital (meaning that you were born with it), they can be acquired (meaning that you developed it possibly because of strenuous activity, maybe you were lifting weights or lifting something heavy), or they can be a result of a previous incision. With those three hernias, it really doesn't matter which type it is because the repairs are generally all the same in terms of how we fix these hernias. Many of the hernias are either fixed primarily - which means we just close it with sutures and that's what we do for small hernias. For larger hernias, we try to close up that hole but in addition, we reinforce that repair with a piece of mesh, which is generally a piece of woven plastic, which we call polypropylene.
When you talk about hernias, there are various classes of hernias aside from where they might be located. Hernias can either be congenital (meaning that you were born with it), they can be acquired (meaning that you developed it possibly because of strenuous activity, maybe you were lifting weights or lifting something heavy), or they can be a result of a previous incision. With those three hernias, it really doesn't matter which type it is because the repairs are generally all the same in terms of how we fix these hernias. Many of the hernias are either fixed primarily - which means we just close it with sutures and that's what we do for small hernias. For larger hernias, we try to close up that hole but in addition, we reinforce that repair with a piece of mesh, which is generally a piece of woven plastic, which we call polypropylene.
People often ask me if heavy lifting can cause a hernia. I would say that in general, patients usually already have the beginnings of a hernia or a weakness in their abdominal wall and when they lift something heavy, that increases the pressure inside their abdominal cavity enough to cause either some intestine or some fat to bulge out of that hole or that weakness and develop a hernia. But it's not so much the heavy lifting that causes a hernia. It's just that the heavy lifting allowed you to manifest the hernia which was already there.
If a patient is at home and they start to notice some discomfort either in the belly button or in the groin region or anywhere else on the abdominal wall, they might want to think about seeing their doctor to be examined to see if they have a hernia. Now, if that person is at home and they happen to notice a bulge that comes and goes, then they definitely need to come in to see a hernia surgeon and may actually need to have that repaired relatively soon. It's important to note that in general, hernias should not be ignored. If you have any suspicion that you might have a hernia - whether it's discomfort or bulge - it's important for that patient to go in to see their doctor to be examined and make sure that they don't have a hernia, or if they do have a hernia, to go on to see a surgeon and have that repaired.
One of the main risk factors for developing hernias is obesity. Patients that are heavier (and especially those that are quite heavy) have so much more pressure on their abdominal wall that they have a higher likelihood of developing hernias.
There's no gene for it, but certainly people come in and they tell me that, you know, both of their parents had hernias and their uncles and brothers all have hernias. There may be some genetic component to it, but there has never really been a gene that's been identified as something that causes hernias in patients.
Hernias are often thought to occur in older patients - people in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and that's true. There are patients that develop these over time. However, it's also quite common to see hernias occur in infants - even newborns. When we see these, we are not alarmed. We just take care of them, operate and fix them, and patients recover fine.
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