The decision to perform minimally invasive or open surgery is usually made by your surgeon before the operation. For some patients, the laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, technique cannot be used due to dense scar tissue from prior abdominal surgery. Also, the inability to see organs and/or bleeding during the operation can cause your surgeon to switch from minimally invasive to open surgery during your operation.

Open surgery involves the surgeon creating a long incision to open the abdomen and operating with "traditional” medical instruments. Laparoscopic, or minimally invasive, surgery is an approach that allows the surgeon to perform the same procedure using several small incisions, a fiber-optic camera, video monitor, and long-handled instruments as well as why your surgeon may recommend a minimally invasive technique but switch to an open one.

Groin hernias (otherwise known as inguinal hernias) can be approached either through a regular open incision or through laparoscopic techniques.

The benefits of decreased post-operative pain and faster return to work are scientifically proven for laparoscopic repair for situations when the hernia is recurrent (meaning it was fixed previously with an open technique) or for a bilateral repair. A bilateral repair means that if you have hernias present on both sides of your groin and the surgeon plans to fix both at the same time.

The question of whether or not to repair a one-sided hernia with a laparoscopic repair versus an open technique depends largely on surgeon preference. There are a number of situations which are specific to medical conditions that favor one approach rather than another.