What is watchful waiting for hernia?
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Watchful waiting is a safe and appropriate early management strategy for male patients who present with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic inguinal hernias. The risk of serious incarceration or strangulation is sufficiently low with an approach of watchful waiting.
What happens if you wait on a hernia?
One potentially serious risk of not fixing a hernia is that it can become trapped outside the abdominal wall—or incarcerated. This can cut off the blood supply to the hernia and obstruct the bowel, resulting in a strangulated hernia.
How long can I wait with a hernia?
Many people are able to delay surgery for months or even years. And some people may never need surgery for a small hernia. If the hernia is small and you don’t have any symptoms, or if the symptoms don’t bother you much, you and your doctor may simply continue to watch for symptoms to occur.
Do asymptomatic hernias need surgery?
Most hernias are repaired due to patient quality of life issues related to the hernia. If the hernia is symptomatic, i.e. causes discomfort and/or pain, then a repair is usually performed. If the patient does not wish to undergo surgery, they can choose not to do so.
Can hernia pain be delayed?
Unless a hernia is causing you distress or limiting your activities, you can safely delay repair. A dull ache and a lump in the groin or scrotum—these are the typical signs of an inguinal (groin) hernia.
Can inguinal hernia be asymptomatic?
Many patients with an inguinal hernia are asymptomatic or have little in the way of symptoms from their hernia. Repair is often associated with long-term chronic pain and has a recurrence rate of 5% to 10%.
How long can hernia go untreated?
If this condition is left untreated longer than 6 hours, incarcerated hernia can cut off blood flow to part of the intestine, resulting in strangulated hernia.
How long can I delay hernia surgery?
What is symptomatic inguinal hernia?
Symptomatic patients often have groin pain, which can sometimes be severe. Inguinal hernias may cause a burning, gurgling, or aching sensation in the groin, and a heavy or dragging sensation may worsen toward the end of the day and after prolonged activity.