Diagnosing and Treating a Hernia in Milton, DE

Have you noticed a bulge on your body that wasn’t there before? That’s a sign that you have a hernia. Hernias usually aren’t medical emergencies unless there are complications. However, they won’t go away independently and still require medical management. Find out more about the types of hernias, the common symptoms, and when to visit Bayhealth Total Care’s Emergency and Urgent Care.

Common Types of Hernias

Urgent care and ER doctors are trained to treat all types of hernias, including those that rarely occur. Still, most people have one of the three most common hernias. Learn about these hernias and their symptoms.

Inguinal Hernias

An estimated 75% of abdominal wall hernias are diagnosed as inguinal hernias. With this type of hernia, tissue protrudes through weakened abdominal muscles and moves into the scrotum or groin. They are more common in men, with one in five males developing inguinal hernias in their lifetime, compared to 1 in 50 females.

If you have an inguinal hernia, you’ll notice a bulge next to your pubic bone, along with burning, aching, pain, and discomfort. You also might experience a dragging sensation from your groin, accompanied by weakness or pressure. Men can also experience swelling in their testicles when they have inguinal hernias.

Ventral Hernias

Ventral hernias bulge through the front abdominal muscles, including epigastric hernias, umbilical hernias, and incisional hernias. On average, surgeons complete around 350,000 ventral hernia repairs yearly, which is a fairly common condition.

Since ventral hernias bulge and contract, they aren’t always visible. You’re more likely to notice a bulge when laughing, coughing, sneezing, or engaging in other activities that cause your abdominal muscles to contract.

These hernias usually aren’t painful, although you can feel some pulling and tugging when they bulge out. If you experience sharp pain, nausea, vomiting, or redness, you might have a complication, such as an incarcerated hernia that is trapped in the opening of the abdominal wall. This is a severe complication, and you should seek treatment immediately.

Hiatal Hernias

Hiatal hernias break through the diaphragm and go into the chest cavity. They often develop slowly and are most common in older men and women. It’s estimated that as many as 60% of people over the age of 50 have hiatal hernias.

Only around 9% of people with hiatal hernias have symptoms, though. Possible symptoms include heartburn, chest pain, indigestion, sore throat, hoarseness, and difficulty swallowing. Large hiatal hernias can cause shortness of breath, nausea, and upper abdominal pain.

Emergency Hernia Symptoms

Hernias don’t go away without medical intervention and can cause severe complications if left untreated. For instance, you can develop an incarcerated hernia that gets trapped in the weakened opening or a strangulated hernia that compromises the blood supply. Both are medical emergencies that require fast intervention.

Go directly to the emergency room if you have any of the following hernia symptoms:

• Bulge that no longer retracts
• Fever
• Inability to pass gas or have a bowel movement
• Nausea or vomiting
• Purple, red, or dark-colored bulge
• Sudden, intense pain

Hernia Treatment Options – Monitoring vs. Hernia Surgery

Hernias generally start small and get larger over time as more tissue breaches the opening. Your doctor will monitor you if your hernia is small, checking for signs of growth. Additionally, your doctor might treat the hernia with trusses and abdominal binders to flatten it and reduce other symptoms.

While nonsurgical methods manage symptoms, surgery is the only way to repair hernias. An estimated one million hernia repair surgeries occur in the United States each year, and emergency surgery is required for about 10% of people with abdominal wall hernias. By monitoring the condition, your doctor can recommend hernia surgery before it becomes an emergency.

If you need surgical hernia treatment, your surgeon may recommend open, laparoscopic, or robotic hernia repair. With each procedure, the surgeon puts the tissue back in place and repairs the weakened opening to prevent a relapse.

Milton Hernia Treatment

At Bayhealth Total Care’s Emergency and Urgent Care Center, our primary goal is to provide the residents of Sussex County with exceptional service and the proper billing for the care they need. Our combined emergency room and urgent care in Milton is fully equipped to handle everything from allergies to chest pain 24/7 with on-site labs, x-ray, ultrasound and CT.

Every patient at our ER and urgent care walk-in clinic is seen by an ER-trained physician at every visit, regardless of the level of care they need. Our approach makes care more affordable by avoiding the higher cost of the emergency room if patients only require urgent care services. Our ER and urgent care clinic is open 24/7.

Bayhealth Total Care’s Emergency and Urgent Care Center is located at 18383 Hudson Road, Milton, DE 19968.