No Mesh Hernia Center in Korea

A hernia is a weakness in the muscle wall of the abdomen, which allows the intestine (which must be in the abdomen) to bulge.

Inguinal hernias are located in the groin region. They are far more common in men than women. There are two types of inguinal hernia; indirect and direct. However, they cannot be distinguished by sight, but can be diagnosed and treated only by operation.

1) Indirect inguinal hernia

In the inguinal area, blood vessels and vas deferens are connected to the testis through a gap in which muscles normally overlap. If a gap arises near this area, the peritoneum bulges through. This is the most common type of hernia. For women, the affected area is near the round ligament of uterus rather than the vas deferens.

2) Direct inguinal hernia

Direct inguinal hernia is a condition where as the abdominal pressure repeatedly increases, the abdominal organs push the thin muscles of the inguinal area so that the muscles become thin like paper. The muscles break and then the bowel bulge out.

3) Femoral hernia

Femoral hernias are found in the area where the lower abdomen and the thigh meet. The femoral artery, vein and nerve pass through the area. Around them, a gap appears from which the bowel bulges out. The hernia feels like an elastic cyst when touched. They are much more common in women than men. Femoral hernias are at high risk of incarceration and strangulation. Therefore, immediate surgery is required to treat femoral hernias

4) Umbilical hernia

An umbilical hernia is a protrusion of the belly button caused by a gap where the umbilical cord was attached to the unborn child.

5) Incisional hernia

An incisional hernia is a protrusion of the intestines at or near the area of weakness caused by an incompletely healed surgical wound. This condition is caused by the stretching of scar tissue that forms after surgery or the infection of a previous surgical scar. Virtually any prior abdominal operation can develop an incisional hernia at the scar area. However, it occurs more frequently along incision lines running down from the breastbone to the pubic bone.

If hernias are left untreated, they can become strangulated at the opening in the abdominal wall, cutting off blood supply to the intestines, which may result in decay. This will result in requiring emergency operation.

Leaving inguinal hernias untreated for too long may adversely affect fertility.

In men, fertility is affected when a hernia changes the temperature of testis. In women hernia mostly occurs near the ovaries or fallopian tube, which may prevent pregnancy.

Also leaving hernias untreated for too long will result in them becoming bigger and bigger. This will cause more discomfort. Once the hernias have become large, there is a higher risk of recurrence even if you undergo an operation.

For these reasons, we highly recommend immediate treatment.

Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery is a new concept of adult inguinal hernia surgery.

We have developed it since we saw many patients suffering from various after effects after having ‘artificial mesh hernia surgery.’

Some people are wondering if the reoccurrence rate may increase unless artificial mesh is used.

Reversely, however, no mesh hernia surgery has an almost zero percent reoccurrence rate according to the statistics currently available.

Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Repairs is a very simple and solid surgery that only stitches up internal inguinal ring after removing the hernia sac.

Though confusing from the patient’s perspective, the existing inguinal hernia surgeries, including artificial mesh hernia surgery, keep the hernia hole intact. Retroperitoneal repairs in the past is a surgical method (Laparoscopic hernia surgery) to cover the inner side of the hernia ring that leaves the inner hernia ring and pulls the separate muscles in the outer layer to stitch up to cover the outer part of inner hernia ring (Lichtenstein, Mesh plug method).

While GIBBEUM’s no mesh hernia surgery is to mend only the hole in the fence, retroperitoneal repairs or artificial mesh hernia surgery conducted by most hospitals are building a defense line at the rear post 10 kilometers away from the front line without mending the hole in the fence.

These kinds of surgeries are less effective, their surgical range is broad and complex, they are highly likely to come with side effects, and the recovery might be slow.

Furthermore, retroperitoneal repairs and artificial mesh surgery (including incision surgery and laparoscopic surgery) had a 10 to 20 percent and 2 to 5 percent of recurrence rate, respectively.

To help you understand, here is a table that summarizes the above mentioned.

	Retroperitoneal repairs	Artificial mesh hernia surgery	Kang Yoon-sik’s no mesh hernia surgery
Hernia hole	Left as it is	Left as it is	Completely mended
Defense line	Built	Built	Not built
Materials of defense line	Muscles around inguinal region	Artificial mesh	-
Use of artificial mesh	No	Yes	No

Now you can clearly see the difference between Kang Yoon-sik’s no mesh hernia surgery and retroperitoneal repairs.

You can also see the difference between Kang Yoon-sik’s no mesh hernia surgery and artificial mesh hernia surgery.

Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery has many advantages over existing hernia surgeries.

Below 10	10s	20s	30s	40s	50s	60s	70s and above
0.06 days	0.5 days	0.3 days	0.4 days	0.3 days	0.4 days	0.3 days	1 day

There are several hernia centers specializing in hernia surgery in the US and Europe.

Shouldice Hernia Center in Toronto, Canada, was established in 1945 by Dr. Shouldice, who served as a marine surgeon during the Second World War.

Shouldice Hernia Center is known as the best of many hernia centers in the world and this is because it has the so-called Shouldice surgery, which was named after Dr. Shouldice.

At a time when retroperitoneal repairs were common, which causes severe pain for a certain period after the surgery and has a particularly high recurrence rate (10 to 20 percent), Dr. Shouldice developed his own surgical method and drew public attention by reporting to have lowered the recurrence rate to below 2 to 3 percent.

Based on this historical background, the center currently conducts 7,000 cases of hernia surgery a year for patients all over the world, being the world’s best hernia center.

However, personally, I do not prefer the Shouldice surgical method.

The Shouldice surgical method is still a type of retroperitoneal repair and is very complicated to conduct. Troubles of pain still remain unresolved and patients should stay in the hospital for 3 days or longer. Above all, however, it is too invasive, which means that it may inflict damage on the related tissues during surgery.

Nevertheless, there are keys for success from the Shouldice Hernia Center.

It has its own contents such as the Shouldice surgical method.

In this regard, it is certain that GIBBEUM Hernia Center will grow as the world’s best hernia center and can go beyond Shouldice.

GIBBEUM Hernia Center completed Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery, a new surgical method that can solve the problems of artificial mesh surgery as well as retroperitoneal repairs.

Surgical method cannot be patented as opposed to other common products.

Nevertheless, developing a completely new and simple surgical method with excellent surgical outcomes and no after effects is worth more than immediate economic profits and our surgical method can be described as the world’s No.1.

Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery was internally developed and introduced by GIBBEUM Hospital in 2013 and, in this sense, Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery can definitely be the ‘world’s best product.’

It takes a smaller surgical range than any other surgical methods in the textbook or theses. It takes shorter (20 minutes or so), comes with no after effects unlike the current artificial mesh surgery, and has a very low recurrence rate (below 1/10 of the current recurrence rate).

Simple as it is, the recovery is also quick. 4 out of 10 patients go back to work or go abroad the day after surgery.

Development of the world’s best hernia surgical method was possible thanks to the efforts made by GIBBEUM Hospital in its pursuit of ‘perfect surgery.’

We are the owner of far better surgical method than the Shouldice and are certain that there is no reason for us not to become the world’s best.

We sincerely appreciate your support.

We are visited by not only locals, but also many Koreans from overseas.

Many Koreans living in other countries like the US, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kyrgyzstan and Ecuador come a long way to have surgery here in GIBBEUM Hospital.

In addition, many foreigners come to have surgery, too.

Their nationalities vary, ranging from China, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, Hong Kong, the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland and Romania to Belarus, Uzbekistan, South Africa and Brazil.

We do not have an agency to invite foreign patients, so it is very encouraging to see foreigners from as many as 20 countries visits us to have surgery.

A language barrier definitely exists. We believe, however, those foreign patients visit us with relief because they intuitively recognize and agree to the supremacy of ‘No mesh Hernia Surgery.’

There are three types of anesthesia for inguinal hernia surgery; general anesthesia, spinal anesthesia and local anesthesia.

General anesthesia

Depending on the standards of the individual hospital, general anesthesia is applied for other surgeries than the above.

Just 170 years ago, having a surgery meant to go through deadly pains. It was not until 1846 when a surgeon named Warren introduced inhalation anesthesia that opened the way to the current general anesthesia. It is not too much to say that the development of methods of anesthesia is one of the most significant parts of medical history. Inhalation anesthesia went through continual progress and it has now become very safe for doctors and patients to undergo surgery without many worries.

Still yet, one of the hardest tasks for surgeons is to get permission from anesthesiologists on general anesthesia for patients. Surgeons can get a go from anesthesiologists only after a thorough medical check for the patient’s health conditions through

various medical exams and making corrections as much as possible on some abnormal examination results from blood pressure and other elements in order to prevent possible anesthetic accidents.

For older patients who are more susceptible to the dangers of general anesthesia, a more strict preparation process is needed, and it comes as a great deal of stress to the surgeons who struggle with heavy workloads. As such, general anesthesia is something that should be applied with extremely great caution just as it was 170 years ago.

General anesthesia is applied typically for laparoscopic hernia surgery among other inguinal hernia surgeries.

In Korea, general anesthesia is applied to all adult inguinal hernia surgeries that insert an artificial mesh of 14x10 (cm) minimal size inside the abdominal cavity or preperitoneal plane by using a laparoscopic instrument and to all pediatric hernia surgeries done by inserting a laparoscopic instrument into the abdominal cavity. In addition, most hospitals apply general anesthesia to conduct inguinal hernia surgeries for the elderly to whom spinal anesthesia is difficult to be applied. Depending on the standards of the individual hospital, general anesthesia is applied for other surgeries than the above.

Spinal Anesthesia

Spinal anesthesia is easier to get permission from anesthesiologists than general anesthesia. However, it comes with a considerably invasive process and, albeit rare, dangers of complications. It is true that anesthesia remains burdensome, as the recovery process for patients after anesthesia is still not easy. At least more than 12 hours of bed rest is required after surgery and in some cases, patients may have difficulties urinating or extracting urine. In most hospitals, almost all patients excepting infants and elderly use spinal anesthesia for inguinal hernia surgery.

Local Anesthesia

Local anesthesia was first used in 1885 when Dr. William Halsted injected cocaine into the nerve, with almost no side effects if a proper amount is used.

It is relatively safer than general or spinal anesthesia. Unless the injection into the blood vessel is conducted incorrectly or an excessive amount is used, it has almost no general symptoms. Therefore, it can be safe for the elderly who have low functionality of their organs or with a serious chronic disease.

Although it is very safe, almost no hospital in Korea uses local anesthesia for inguinal hernia surgeries. However, local anesthesia for inguinal hernia surgeries can be applied to almost all ages excluding toddlers under the age of 3. It can also be safe for those who are too old to have hernia surgery or who have a serious chronic illness.

Local anesthesia is better than general or spinal anesthesia in many respects.

1. It is relatively safer than other anesthesia

2. Those who have all kinds of chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, liver diseases, renal failure and strokes can feel comfortable with having hernia surgery under local anesthesia.

3. The aged can also have safe surgeries.

4. Even toddlers can have safe surgeries.

5. You can have surgery without stopping taking aspirin or anticoagulants.

6. No fasting is needed.

7. It helps surgery remain free from the possibility of reoccurrence.

8. You can go back to daily activities right after surgery.

Local anesthesia refers to anesthetic that is administered at the surgical region to paralyze sensory nerves.

Local anesthesia for adult hernia

Local anesthesia for pediatric hernia

If having surgery at GIBBEUM Hospital, day surgery is available for most cases after the doctor’s evening round.

First, we use local anesthesia.

Second, it is a very simple and solid surgery.

Reservation in advance (Call or E-mail) → Visit hospital → Reception → Treatment → Examination prior to surgery → Hospitalization process → Surgery → Recovery from the ward → Ward round → Leaving the hospital

✽How to make an appointment? Please call us at 82-2-570-1234 to make an appointment between 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Our staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Or you may make an appointment E-mail.( !00015@GIBBEUMhospital.com )

If you have any question or need any help, you can contact Stephen Kwon at stephen9kwon@daum.net or 82-10-8253-8699 (cell), 82 is country code, who is the English language interpreter and hospital chaplain as well. If you live in USA, you can contact Jack Wilkerson at jack.wilkerson@gmail.com who actually came to our hospital for hernia repair in June. 2017 and went back home to Umatilla, Florida, USA.

After you contact the hospital or above persons, you can set up an appointment. Then you make a flight schedule in advance. At the arrival date you will be picked up at the airport by the hospital staff and guided to stay either at the hospital room or a Sheraton hotel room contracted by the hospital. The hotel room rate currently is about US$140 a day which is much less than the regular price. If you like, you can stay at other places through your own internet search or through hospital staff’s assistance. The daily rate can be down to US$70. The next day or one more day later, depending on your bodily condition, you can go through the pre-surgery test and the actual surgery in the afternoon. The next day you will be discharged to the hotel room or the other place where you want to stay. If you like, you can opt for a Gangnam or Seoul tour, most of the time sitting on a car seat, on your expense. The hospital staff will help you on your tour for a few hours. After a few days rest in Korea if you like, you will get on the flight back to your home country. The whole cost will depend on the class of the flight and the days you stay at the hotel or other places. Roughly speaking the total cost, including flight and room and board, from leaving your home country to arriving back there, can be from US$4,000 to 6,000, which is much less than the cost you can spend anywhere else in the world.

There is no need to fast prior to surgery as the surgery administers local anesthesia. Patients do not need to stop taking regular medicine, either. Medicine for hypertension or diabetes should be taken as usual. A simple pre-medical checkup is necessary for surgery such as ultrasound and blood test.

Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery usually takes about 20 minutes. An additional 10 minutes may be taken to stay in the surgery room for preparation before surgery and wrap up after surgery.

Remaining effects of local anesthetic used during surgery would prevent pain for several hours even after the surgery. Pain may begin slowly but can usually be controlled by painkillers. For those who undergo one-day surgery, about 50 percent of them take a painkiller shot. In most cases, it is not as painful as patients take painkillers from the next day. However, pains like a tight feeling in the surgical part while lying down, getting up and walking may persist for about a week. Pains due to artificial mesh surgery can be more severe and persist longer.

Patients can leave the hospital after the day round on the surgery day or the next day. A one-night stay is recommended for those who had hernia surgery on both sides or who are old.

Special adhesive for surgery is used on the surgical region and patients do not have to visit the hospital to get treatment on the surgical part or remove stitches.

Those who had Kang Yoon-sik’s No mesh Hernia Surgery can take a flight on the day of the surgery. Some wonder if the stitches can be ripped when getting on the plane right after the surgery. However, this is not true. If patients can endure the pain, it does not matter when they take planes. In fact, one patient had surgery 6 days ago but already went back to home to Canada and posted online about the experiences of surgery. Another patient went travelling to Cambodia for two weeks right after the surgery and reported no problems after returning from the trip.

Including examinations prior to surgery / Day surgery / 3-person ward / Korean won

		Patients with Korean National Health Insurance	Patients without Korean National Health Insurance
One side	Under age 70 years	410,000~640,000 KRW	3,100,000 KRW (US $ 2,700)
	Age 70 years or above	585,000~820,000 KRW	3,360,000 KRW (US $ 2,850)
Both sides	Under age 70 years	600,000~965,000 KRW	3,900,000 KRW (US $ 3,350)
	Age 70 years or above	775,000~1,140,000 KRW	4,160,000 KRW (US $ 3,520)

• - Including examinations prior to surgery
• - 1 USD = 1,183 KRW
• - There may be charge variation.

If you are a legal worker in Korea, you are qualified for the insurance which Korean government allows. You will be equally treated with Koreans in terms of medical cost you pay. If you are qualified but don’t have it, you contact your boss to get it. It’s a huge benefit.

If you have other insurance than the above Korean National Insurance, you contact your Insurance agent in Korea. They will help you a lot.

Before you come to Korea, learn what medical services your health insurance will cover overseas. If your health insurance policy provides coverage outside your home country, REMEMBER to carry both your insurance policy ID and a claim form. Health insurance companies will pay the reasonable hospital costs abroad when you have the policy. Our hospital costs, as you can see, are very reasonable. Please give our website on HERNIA REPAIR to your insurance agency : http://global.GIBBEUMhospital.com/english/hernia/no-mesh-hernia-center.html The whole cost including room charge, medication, and all treatment with the new and best hernia repair technology in the world by Dr. Kang is in the range of US$2,900–3,700 which is much less than that in any other country in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwEuZ8wVVNI