I read that alot of people have hernia repairs during surgery. Is this something they know ahead of time and test for or is it usually discovered during surgery?

My upper gi showed a "tiny" hernia. My surgeon said if it was necessary he would repair it during LapBand surgery. It wasn't so he didn't.

If you have an EGD or upper GI before surgery, it should be discovered then. If not, I believe it will be discovered and corrected during surgery in most cases (gastric sleeve and bypass)

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by docbree

As the others have said, it can usually be detected when you have the EGD, which is required by most surgeons and insurance companies prior to surgery. If not, it will be easily detected at the time of surgery and is usually an easy repair.

You can ALWAYS ask your Surgeon and suggest that you want it to be fixed ask him/her so they will check it out I tell you just my suggestion but let me tell you I am so HAPPY that my surgeon did fix my Hiatal Hernia repair because I haven't had any issues with , heartburn, gerd or reflux since and I still eat spicy foods sometimes , before I would have been choking and having that nasty burning , I haven't touched tums, nexium, or rolaids, or any of that since my surgery .

I had a small one, which was discovered during the surgery, and he repaired it then

I'm thinking that if I have a hernia I can be out of work longer.

My HH was discovered and repaired during my LB surgery -- another plus. The surgeon had indicated that this might occur so I wasn't caught off guard. Sometimes I wonder if this repair is part of why I feel so great or if it's just my new banded life.

I had a small one that was discovered and repaired during surgery. My surgeon had a clearance form that I signed ahead of time stating that if one was found it would be repaired, so I wasn't surprised when he told me that one was found and repaired with a few sutures.

I had an upper GI before surgery and it showed a large hernia. They had to do both surgeries at same time since the hernia was right where the band needed to be. If I did not get the hernia out then band might of slipped. The recovery was a little harder but after a week I was fine. They should definitely do an upper GI before surgery.

For me, I had no real symptoms of heartburn or whatever and only knew last minute that the surgeon would repair it if it existed. I had no upper GI scope or barium testing. So, I was very surprised to find out that my surgeon had repaired 'a big one'. As my surgeon said post-op: '2 surgeries for the price of 1!'

I have Barrett's so I get scoped every three years anyway. They found my hiatal hernia several years ago but said it was minor. When surgeon got in there it was a significant sliding hiatal hernia so he had to fix it. I will say that although I am only four days post-op I have not had one bit of heartburn nor any Nexium and/or Zantac since either. I so hope this trend continues as it will be great to not have to take meds or deal with reflux or GERD.

I had a scope before surgery that didn't show a hernia. After surgery my doc said he saw a small one once he got in there and repaired it when he placed my band.