Dr Harsh Shah
MS, MCh (Surgical Gastroenterology), DrNB (Surgical Gastroenterology)
Registered with Gujarat Medical Council, Reg. No. G-38738
Robotic Hernia Surgeon · Apollo Hospital, Bhat, Gandhinagar · Gota OPD, Ahmedabad
In short
Most people planning a hernia repair picture several days in hospital. For the commoner repairs that is no longer how it works. You come in the morning, have the operation, and go home the same evening.
This page sets out who that suits, what has to happen before you are allowed home, and what the first night looks like.
Which repairs are usually day care, and which are not
| Repair | Usual stay | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Groin repair, one side, keyhole or robotic | Day care | Small wounds, pain settles on tablets |
| Groin repair, both sides | Day care, sometimes one night | More dissection, and urine retention is a little commoner |
| Small umbilical or epigastric repair | Day care | Short operation, low pain |
| Medium ventral or incisional repair | One to two nights | Drains, more pain, and mobility takes a day |
| Large or complex repair with a wall release | Three nights or more | Bigger operation, and the bowel takes time to restart |
Ask at the consultation whether your repair is suitable for day care, and plan who will be at home that night.
All four, not three of the four. The last one is the one families most often overlook, and it is the one that decides whether the day care plan holds.
After a groin repair, and after a spinal anaesthetic, the bladder can be slow to start again. It is more common in men, and in anyone who already has prostate symptoms.
If it happens you are simply kept longer, and occasionally a catheter is placed for a short time. It is inconvenient rather than serious, and it settles.
Expect the site to ache, and expect it to be worse when you move from lying to sitting. Take the painkillers to a clock for the first 48 hours rather than waiting for the pain. Eat light, drink water, and get up to walk a few steps every hour while you are awake.
Some bruising and a firm swelling over the repair is usual. What is not usual is fever, a wound soaking the dressing, vomiting, or pain that keeps climbing despite the tablets. Those are reasons to call the number on your discharge sheet the same night.
Indian health policies once needed a 24-hour admission before they would pay. That has changed. Policies now carry a day care treatment list, and hernia repair is generally on it.
Confirm it with your insurer or the hospital insurance desk before the admission date, not on the morning of surgery, and keep the discharge summary and the operation note. There is more on the paperwork on the insurance page.
Day care is the default for straightforward repairs, not a target to be met. An overnight stay is the better plan where you live far from the hospital, where you live alone, where heart or lung disease needs watching, where the operation turned out to be longer than expected, or where pain has not settled by the evening.
Booking day care does not commit you to it. The decision is made on the evening, on how you actually are.
Most groin repairs and small umbilical or epigastric repairs, whether open, keyhole or robotic. Large incisional repairs and repairs needing an abdominal wall release usually need a stay.
Pain settled on tablets, you have passed urine, you can walk and drink, and a responsible adult will be with you overnight. All four, not three of the four.
No. The repair is exactly the same. Day care describes how long you stay afterwards, not how the hernia is fixed.
Usually yes. Indian health policies carry a day care treatment list, and hernia repair is generally on it. Confirm it with your insurer or the hospital desk before admission.
That is common after a groin repair, more so in men. You will be kept until it settles, and occasionally a catheter is needed for a short time. It is not a reason to worry.
The main page on this site is robotic hernia surgery in Ahmedabad. These cover the neighbouring questions.
Where to find us
Dr Harsh Shah, MS, MCh (Surgical Gastroenterology), DrNB (Surgical Gastroenterology)
Shah's Gastro, Cancer & Robotic Surgery Centre
Apollo Hospital, Bhat, Gandhinagar
Gota OPD, Ahmedabad
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