Hernia surgery post prostatectomy

Posted by richardB @richardblackman, Mar 6 3:23pm

Anyone have experience with hernia surgery post prostatectomy? Evidently, the normally "routine" abdominal hernia surgery is much more complicated for those who have had prostate surgery. If nothing else, a renewed chance of new side effects (incontinence & ED). My primary doc believes I will need the surgery and it looks like not many hernia surgeons have experience with post prostatectomy patients.

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I had one immediately after my prostatectomy in 2015 at MD Anderson. Had to wait 3 months to recover from the prostatectomy and they did an open operation instead of laparoscopic and did not insert a catheter. It was a piece of cake compared to the prostatectomy. The worst part about it was having to wait the 3 months..

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I developed a reoccurrence of an inguinal hernia about 1 year after my prostatectomy. It was repaired with robotic laparoscopic surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD (which is also where I had my prostatectomy). The hernia repair was a fairly routine procedure with no complications or long term side effects.

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I have an inguinal hernia at the belly button area due to the post prostatectomy. They say I can wait until it causes problems. I am interested in what is the recovery. Is it ten weeks with ten lb lifting. Are there other side affects?
Best wishes to all

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@ssonkin

I developed a reoccurrence of an inguinal hernia about 1 year after my prostatectomy. It was repaired with robotic laparoscopic surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD (which is also where I had my prostatectomy). The hernia repair was a fairly routine procedure with no complications or long term side effects.

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@ssonkin, what year was your hernia repair and do you happen to recall the name of the doctor?
My prostatectomy was also done at Hopkins (Feb 2020). thanks

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@ssonkin

I developed a reoccurrence of an inguinal hernia about 1 year after my prostatectomy. It was repaired with robotic laparoscopic surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD (which is also where I had my prostatectomy). The hernia repair was a fairly routine procedure with no complications or long term side effects.

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@ssonkin, also wondering how long your total recovery was --i.e. back to full exercise and activities?

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I am two months out from a robotic inguinal hernia repair, one year after my robot assisted laparoscopic surgery prostatectomy. The urologist swears the RALP didn't cause it, but the hernia wasn't there before the prostate's removal. No matter the cause, I still needed it repaired. The hernia surgeon warned me there could be scar tissue that would make his repair take more time, and post-op he did say it was a struggle to get the mesh into the proper place because of those issues. But I am all healed and actually my stress incontinence improved as a result. I leak far less now when I am inactive around the house. Maybe the repair helped position my bladder better? No one knows for sure. One unusual note- I had a severe allergic reaction to the glue used to hold the incisions together. My stomach turned into a red oozing mess, painful and miserable to live with. Luckily prescription creams made it all better within a week.

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@richardblackman

@ssonkin, also wondering how long your total recovery was --i.e. back to full exercise and activities?

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Dr. Alisa Coker performed the hernia repair. I was back to doing pushups and running a few miles after 5 weeks. Of course the specifics of the hernia and the steps required to repair it vary from case to case as do individual's abilities to recover. You could recover faster or considerably more slowly.

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I had a Prostatectomy in 2006. Since then I’ve had 4 hernias and repairs.

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I had a hernia develop about a year after my surgery. My doctor recommended an open cut surgery because of my scar tissue. The surgery went fine. However, I had a relapse in my bladder control. It took about three months before I was continent again. It’s now a year later and I’m 100% normal again — no discomfort or pain. In fact, I’m training for the London Marathon on April 21.

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I believe I have settled on Prostatectomy for my cancer but after reading all of your stories, I am concerned that a hernia may be caused by the Protatectomy. Is this true? Nowhere in my research about Prostatectomy did it mention risk of a hernia.

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