Mesh Free Hernia Surgery
There is much medical literature that shows that specialty hospitals, such as the Shouldice Hospital Thornton Canada, Individual expert surgeons such as, Dr. Rutledge and Dr. Petersen achieve recurrence rates of less than 3% with non-mesh hernia repair. Non-expert surgeons, it is said, have a recurrence rate of 30%.
The importance of mesh-free hernia surgery is that it avoids the number one serious and common complication of hernia surgery, severe chronic hernia mesh pain. In Dr. Petersen's 36 year experience he has had 3 patients develop significant post herniorrhaphy pain. However no patient developed pain severe enough to inhibit routine activities. This is also is the experience of the Shouldice Hospital. The first time that hernia mesh pain was reported in the medical literature was in 1998, 5 years after hernia mesh repairs were designated the standard of care. Dr. Petersen's first hernia mesh removal for severe chronic pain was preformed in 1995.