Laparoscopic hernia after-care: Day Surgery Unit

About laparoscopic hernia surgery

A hernia occurs when an internal part of the body pushes through a weakness in the muscle or surrounding tissue wall.

A hernia usually develops between your chest and hips. In many cases, it causes no symptoms or few symptoms. You may notice a swelling or lump in your abdomen (tummy) or groin.

A laparascopic hernia operation means keyhole surgery to fix your hernia.

Recovery at home

Do the following when you get home.

• Go to bed and rest as soon as you get home. For the first night, only get up to go to the bathroom when you need to.
• The morning after your operation, we advise you to be as mobile as feels comfortable. This will help you to avoid complications such as blood clots and constipation.
• Drink plenty of fluids and eat normally.
• Take the painkillers we give you, as directed, at regular intervals.
• We do not give patients antibiotics when they go home. (All patients receive antibiotics during the procedure, to prevent infection).

Care of your wound protection

You will have a wound dressing in place. 

If we used dissolvable stitches, you can take this dressing off after 7 to 10 days.

If we used stitches that need to be removed, leave the wound dressing in place until [add text].

Pain after the operation

The wounds in the centre of your abdomen (tummy) will be the main source of discomfort. You will also feel discomfort in the groin.

There is likely to be bruising in the groin area and possibly also in the scrotum.

For 24 hours after the operation, you may find that your scrotum is enlarged and feels crackly when you touch it. This is caused by the gas we use within your abdominal cavity during the operation.

This may worry you, but it will gradually settle down and cause no problem.

Everyday activities

• You can resume your normal everyday activities when you feel comfortable to do so. For most patients, if the activity does not hurt, it will not do any damage.
• If an activity does hurt, we advise you to stop and try again after a day or two.
• Most patients are back doing light everyday activities after 10 to 14 days, and heavy physical activities after 2 to 3 weeks.

Driving

• Most patients are ready to drive after 7 to 10 days.
• To check if you are ready to drive a car, sit in the driver's seat without turning the car on. Put your foot heavily on the brake as if you are doing an emergency stop. If this action is painful, it means you are not ready to start driving.
• Check your insurance policy before you start driving after the procedure.