These hernias are the result of a previous abdominal operation.  The cause of this type of hernia is related to factors that lead to an increased abdominal pressure and the patient’s ability to heal following the index surgery. 

Risk factors include:

• Old age
• Obesity
• Smoking
• Malnutrition
• Immunosuppression – impede factors involved in normal wound healing
• Technical factors – wound infection, fascial dehiscence, type of surgery

In men, the inguinal canal is the place of passage of the seminal vesicle as well as the blood vessels that feed the testicles. In women, the inguinal canal contains a round ligament that supports the uterus.

In inguinal hernias, fatty tissue or part of the intestine can exits through the inguinal canal, ie through a weak point in the anterior abdominal wall, and is visible to the naked eye as a protrusion under the skin in the lower part of the groin. This is the most common type of hernia and affects men more often than women.

This type of hernia occurs when adipose tissue or part of the intestine penetrates through the abdominal wall in the femoral region, which is located at the top inner side of the thigh. Femoral hernia occurs much less frequently than inguinal hernia, most often in older women. These should always be fixed.

These hernias occurs when adipose tissue or part of the intestine passes through a congenital defect in the area around ​​the navel.

This type of hernia refers to a defect in the diaphragm where the esophagus becomes the stomach.  Due to increased abdominal pressure, the stomach widens the natural opening of the diaphragm, or hiatus, and herniates into the chest.  Management depends on symptoms and classification of the hiatal hernia based on the amount of stomach or other organs that herniate into the chest.  Complications include twisting of the stomach inside the chest cavity, which may require emergency surgery.