Adult Umbilical hernia?!
Question: Can an adult umblical hernia go away on it's own. I am 40 and I noticed the lump under my belly button and tenderness... then more pain with a bit of back pain... then after resting the pain lessened and the lump has gone right down??
Will I definitely have to have surgery or sometimes do they just go away?
Answers: Can an adult umblical hernia go away on it's own. I am 40 and I noticed the lump under my belly button and tenderness... then more pain with a bit of back pain... then after resting the pain lessened and the lump has gone right down??
Will I definitely have to have surgery or sometimes do they just go away?
Sorry, but no they don't just miraculously go away. Even if you are overweight and lose all the weight, you are still left with the popped cork belly button where the abdominal muscles have given. It has to be repaired surgically, otherwise it can only get worse. Eventually it can strangulate- that is when the blood supply to the intestine poking out is cut off. At that point, it's life or death and emergency surgery of a nasty sort. Before then it can be handled as a day surgery, in for a morning repair, awake for a light lunch and home tucked in your own bed for the night. Most surgeons do it as a laproscopic repair, which leaves two small incisions in the belly button folds. And you get a new belly button when they retie things. Depending on your particular situation, and if it's done quickly enough, you may not actually have intestine protruding- you may have only the abdominal fatty pad. In that case, the incisions are the same but the repair is a lot easier still. Done as a day surgery, you will only lose about a week off work. You are most miserable the day after the surgery, when the gas used to inflate the abdomen is passing. You have pain medications to cover you, and you move slow, but you do move. You can eat pretty much what you like, although bland is best- and are usually back on full feed inside two or three days. You usually can't drive for a few weeks, and are restricted from lifting much at all for about 6 weeks. After that, no holds barred. Don't sweat it- it's really not a bad repair. And the sooner it's done the easier it is to do and recover from. Honest.