Dr. Ken Wong often performs hernia repair surgery on obese patients who have previously had surgery elsewhere.
This can be attributed to the prior surgery weakening the membrane around the surgical site.
Before keyhole surgery many patients used to have major cuts in their belly for various forms of surgery such as bowel or gallbladder removals.
Most notably in obese patients it seemed that over time this left them with a giant hernia.
A giant hernia occurs when the under layer of their wound breaks open and the tissue, or organ in some cases, inside their belly bulges out.
Over many years the patient in the photograph to the left had gallbladder removal surgery, a caesarean section and bowel removal surgery leaving her tummy thoroughly disfigured and painful.
By the time she saw Dr. Ken Wong of Central Coast Surgery, her large abdominal hernia was inhibiting her ability to walk and move.
Another patient, shown to the right, had a large cut to repair an umbilical hernia some years ago. The large cut became a large incisional hernia. She was also morbidly obese – measuring under five feet tall but probably five feet wide.
By the time she saw Dr. Ken Wong at the Central Coast Surgery Clinic, she had been to Emergency Departments many times with her bowel caught and twisted in her hernia.
For both patients, their obesity was contributing to their hernia issues. The hernia is partly due to their increased weight, which has disrupted their previous surgery. Weight loss will enhance the success of any future surgery. Otherwise there is no point in performing hernia repair surgery and fixing their hernia, as it would just come back.
For both patients, Dr. Ken Wong offered keyhole surgery to reduce their weight. Sleeve gastrectomy gastic sleeve was the option and at the same time Dr. Wong could fix the hernia using component separation and lateral release techniques. Component separation and lateral release are newer techniques in hernia repair and abdominal wall reconstruction which offers a far higher chance of success in fixing the hernia permanently.
Combining sleeve gastrectomy or gastric sleeve with major hernia repair is a challenging and time consuming operation. The second patient took Dr. Ken Wong eight hours of surgery time but she ended up with a good result: good weight loss and an excellent hernia repair. For further information about hernias and hernia repair surgery contact Dr. Wong at Central Coast Weight Loss and Minimally Invasive Surgery for a confidential consultation.
