Chennai: Hernia is caused by muscle weakness and if not treated, will develop into a serious issue, so it is always better to treat it at the earliest, says Dr Deepak Subramanian, senior consultant in general, laparoscopic, surgical gastroenterology and bariatric surgery.
Well-known for his specialisation in hernias and obesity-related surgeries, he speaks to News Today about hernia, its effects on the body, symptoms and how it can be treated.
Q: What is hernia?
A: Hernia is a protrursion of an organ or a tissue in any part of the body which comes out as a swelling. It is of different types, categorised based on the body part in which it may develop. They are umblical hernia, groin hernia which is common among males, and incisional hernia, caused by incompletely healed surgical wounds. Most commonly we are seeing men above the age of 50 get hernia, but there is no particular age group for it and people of any age can get hernias.
Q: What are its after-effects?
A: With hernias one may get obstruction in the area where it is developed and it causes loss in blood supply, that can cause a serious emergency. In such cases, it has to be operated within four to six hours. So, it is better to always treat hernias at the earlier stage, much before it becomes a serious issue. Sometimes, people can feel the swelling and they themselves can know it is hernia but there is also secondary symptoms like indigestion problems and stomachache. In that case, through scans we will be able to identify that the patient has hernia.
Q: What are the advancements in the treatment of hernia?
A: In todays age, there are a lot of advancements to treat hernias. We are able to do laparoscopy procedures to treat it which gives extremely good results. Before the advent of laparoscopy procedure we needed to cut open large bits of incision that used to cause pain and recovery would take sometime. With laparoscopy, there is no need for big surgery and recovery is faster and infection rate is also less.