What to expect on the day of surgery and after?

On the day of surgery, you are required to come to the hospital approximately 90 minutes before your scheduled operation. This is necessary to allow time for you to change, have an intravenous started, speak with the nurses, anesthesiologist and me. I suggest you wear loose comfortable clothing.

Surgery can take approximately 1 hour for a single hernia. Depending on the complexity of the hernia and its size, surgery may take more or less time.

Most people spend 1- 2 hours recovering from surgery in the hospital.

Once home, it is important to stay ahead of any pain or discomfort. 90% of our patients successfully treat their post-operative pain with Tylenol and Ibuprofen (aka Advil, Motrin) alone. Some patients also require opioid pain medication after surgery. Most people will feel the most discomfort over the first 48 hours after surgery. This is typically the time when there is the most swelling and black and blue discoloration.

By 2 weeks, almost everyone is back doing everything they did before surgery.

 

About Dr. Reinhorn & Dr. Fullington

Dr. Michael Reinhorn is a specialist in inguinal hernia and umbilical hernia. He started his practice as a general surgeon in 2001, and in 2012 he transitioned to focus on the care of hernia patients. In 2018, he co-founded Boston Hernia, an ambulatory surgery practice focused exclusively on hernia surgery. In 2020, Dr. Nora Fullington was recruited from her work as a general surgeon, where she performed hundreds of laparoscopic hernia repairs, to Boston Hernia where she was intensively trained by Dr. Reinhorn in the open preperitoneal and Shouldice techniques. Together with their physician assistant team, they perform approximately 800 hernia surgeries every year. Both surgeons offer a tailored approach for each patient, taking into account individual patient factors to decide if surgery is recommended or not, what type of repair (open, laparoscopic, mesh, non-mesh) is best, and what type of anesthesia is safest. At Boston Hernia, our focus is on each individual patient and continuously improving our own surgical techniques and outcomes. We do this by participating in various hernia societies, studying our own outcomes through a national database, and publishing our data to influence the care of hernia patients nationally and internationally. Boston Hernia is an affiliate practice of the Mass General Brigham system. In addition to operating at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, a Mass General Brigham Hospital, we offer care at ambulatory surgery centers in Waltham, MA and Derry, NH.