Nikki Sommer, a nurse with Key West Surgical Group, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning for Medical Matters.
Hernias do not go away on their own.
Sommer said a hernia is “a weak spot in the muscle wall, allowing tissue, often fat or intestine, to push through. This creates a bulge, especially when you stand or if you cough, or with heavy lifting. Hernias do not go away on their own, and while some may stay stable and they may not bother you, they can worsen over time.”
What is a ventral hernia?
Sommer said, “A ventral hernia is just a broad term that refers to any hernia along the front of the abdominal wall, that can be above, below or beside the belly button. So another common type, and we see this a lot, is incisional hernia, which happens often at the site of a previous surgical incision. If you don’t take the proper time to heal, the muscle may never fully regain its strength, therefore creating that weakness.”
How does this differ from the umbilical hernia?
Sommer said, “The umbilical hernia occurs specifically at the belly button. The belly button is a natural weak spot in the abdominal wall. They’re more common in infants, and they may close on their own. They may fix themselves. Pregnant women, adults with weight gain or increased abdominal pressure, umbilical hernias can be small. Adults should still have them evaluated, especially if the symptoms change.”
What are the symptoms of a ventral hernia?
Sommer said, “A visible bulge, pressure or discomfort, pain with lifting or straining. Red flags usually include increased pain, redness or tenderness, nausea or vomiting, a bulge that won’t go back in, that could be bothersome, that means it’s protruding out and it can get trapped, especially if it’s your intestine that’s trapped in there, you can cut off the blood supply, and necrosis in your intestine, so you don’t want that to happen.”
Tissue that is trapped can be a surgical emergency.
Sommer said, “They should never be ignored. Usually, with that and if you’re having pain and you feel like you have to go to the bathroom and have a bowel movement and you can’t, that’s also another sign, like you’re struggling, you need to get that checked out right away.”
How are hernias diagnosed and then treated?
Sommer said, “Usually in a physical exam, you can feel it. Sometimes in obese people, they might be harder to feel. Or the patient will come in and they think they have a mass. So we’ll get an image like a CAT scan to confirm the size and the contents, also to make sure, like to see if there’s any bowel trapped, if it’s strangulated and so forth. Treatment conditions include, if it’s small, asymptomatic, we just wait, we just watch. You don’t have to jump for surgery. Surgical repair is for the painful, enlarging or high risk hernias. So ventral hernias, especially ones that are caused by previous surgery, tend to grow larger over time, so they carry a higher risk of complications if you ignore them. So just keep, keep that in mind.”
Surgery can use mesh to strengthen the abdominal wall and reduce recurrence.
How can you reduce the risk?
Sommer said, “Maintaining healthy weight, avoiding heavy lifting without support, treating chronic cough or constipation and again, following post surgical restrictions carefully. So when you have an incisional hernia or a ventral hernia related to previous surgery, it’s a lot of times whatever caused the hernia in the first place, or whatever the surgery was before the body mechanics, you didn’t allow your body enough time to heal, so that’s how ventral hernia can form.”
For more information on how Key West Surgical Group can help, click here: https://www.keywestsurgicalgroup.com/