When is the best time to have hernia surgery for a child?

Current medical evidence shows that children with hernias need to be treated surgically. This way, the treatment will be more effective and the child will recover faster. However, children do not need surgery as soon as their hernia is discovered. The time for surgery is not fixed. So when is the best time for children to undergo surgery?

If a baby has a hernia before the age of 1, it is possible for it to heal on its own. What you need to pay attention to is to avoid the baby's violent crying. Once you find that the baby cannot return to the penis, it is very likely that the baby's small intestine is stuck. At this time, you must go to the hospital immediately to find a specialist doctor to reposition the bag. If it is too late, it may cause intestinal necrosis.

If your baby's hernia has not healed by the time he is one year old, he must undergo surgery to cure it. The most widely recognized surgical method for pediatric hernia is high ligation of the hernia sac. Nowadays, more and more babies are being conceived using minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Generally speaking, the higher the hernia sac is ligated, the better the effect. The minimally invasive method ligates at a much higher position than open surgery, so the effect is the best. Due to the magnifying effect of the laparoscope, the anatomy of the spermatic cord and vas deferens in the inguinal area is clearer, which greatly reduces the possibility of intraoperative injury and makes the operation safer.

For babies with hernias on both sides, one operation can solve the problem on both sides at the same time, and only a small scar of two and a half centimeters will be left on the abdominal wall after the operation. Due to the small trauma, the baby basically has no obvious pain after the operation and can resume eating in 4-6 hours. The probability of incision infection and scrotal swelling after the operation is almost zero, which is significantly lower than open surgery.

The surgery is usually performed when the child is around 4 years old. The treatment effect will be faster at this time, but before that, it is also necessary to pay attention to controlling the child's hernia problem. If the child cries frequently, it is easy to cause hernia, so at this time, you should try to keep the child calm.