re umbilical hernia in article apr shannon ee wits ac za gary concave cs wits ac za gary taylor writes could anyone give me information on umbilical hernias the patient is over weight and has a protruding hernia surgery may be risky due to the obesity what other remedies could i try unless the patient has a very short life expectancy the possible complications from a hernia that hasn t been repaired far outweigh the risks of surgery the risks of surgery anyway are minimal unless they are exceedingly large hernias can be fixed under local anesthesia don t forget that hernias are one the leading causes of small bowel obstruction and the smaller the hernia is the higher the chances that a loop of bowel will become incarcerated or strangulated howard doyle doyle pitt edu
