What is DVT?

Deep vein thrombosis is a kind of vascular disorder. It happens when a thrombus (blood clot) forms in the deep vein anywhere in the body. It especially develops in the legs. This is a grave ailment and can actually be fatal for you unless you seek treatment right away.

What are the symptoms of DVT?

A worrying feature of deep vein thrombosis is that in most cases it shows no symptoms in the earlier phases. Moreover, what makes diagnosis hard is that even when symptoms manifest, they are very similar to those of other disorders like tissue or muscle inflammation or arthritis.

Here are some typical deep vein thrombosis symptoms:

  One or both of your legs become swollen
  Your legs feel tender and hurt a lot in all postures
  The skin of your legs always feel hot to the touch
  Your skin looks blotchy or discoloured
  You bleed when you cough
  Wheezing and breathing problems
  Dizziness
  Frequent and sharp chest pain

Who is susceptible to DVT?

Deep vein thrombosis usually happens when you sit or lie in one position for long stretches of time especially when you are recuperating after an illness or surgery. It can also happen to you for other reasons-

  Injury: An injury to your legs can narrow the blood vessels and that reduces the blood flow through the veins. That is why blood clots can develop there.
  Pregnancy: The additional weight that woman has to carry in the course of her pregnancy exerts extra pressure on the veins of the legs and pelvis and thus clots may form in the veins.
  Contraceptive pills: Birth control pills raise the chances of a woman getting deep vein thrombosis by four times.
  Obesity: Obesity means forcing extra pressure onto your veins.
  Smoking: Smoking interferes with the flow of blood through your veins and raises the possibility of getting blood clots.
  The family history of deep vein thrombosis: if anyone in your family has deep vein thrombosis, you might contract it too because it is hereditary.

Complications:

DVT becomes lethal if the blood clot becomes dislodged and travels from the legs to the lungs, it can cause a pulmonary embolism. This can lead to blockage of the artery of the lung and in that case, a person may die.

Treatment for deep vein thrombosis:

Treatment for DVT includes both invasive and non-invasive vascular techniques.

  Blood-thinning medicines: They prevent blood platelets from clumping together and reduce the size of the existing clots.
  Thrombolytic drugs: If medicines are not effective, work, these drugs will be injected into your veins. They travel down the veins to where the blockage is and disintegrate the clots so that blood can once again flow through the vein uninterrupted.
  Compression stockings: They exert pressure on the vein containing the clot, prevent it from moving, and do not allow new clots to develop. You have to wear them throughout the day.
  Surgery: In very rare cases, when non-invasive methods have no effect, you may have to undergo a kind of vascular surgery called venous thrombectomy. The surgeon will make a minute incision in the vein where the clot is lodged, siphon it out and then repair the damaged vein.

Deep vein thrombosis is easily curable with treatment. Do not delay it, as DVT has the potential to kill you.

Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) - All You Should Know About It!

When an organ or fatty tissue is squeezed through a hole (weak spot) in the connective tissue or a surrounding muscle then it causes a hernia. Usually, hernia happens at the abdominal wall and sometimes it can be seen as an external bulge.

There are various types of hernia which include:

  Inguinal Hernia (happens in the inner groin).
  Incisional Hernia (develops through a scar or an incision in the abdomen).
  Umbilical Hernia (develops at the belly button).
  Femoral Hernia (develops in the outer groin or upper thigh area).
  Ventral Hernia (develops in the general ventral or abdominal wall).
  Hiatal Hernia (develops inside the abdomen, beside the upper diaphragm or stomach).

The most common cause of hernia is the combination of pressure and opening of connective tissue or weakness of the muscle. Anything that escalates the abdominal pressure can lead to a hernia, including lifting heavy weights, constipation, persistent sneezing or coughing, obesity, and diarrhea. Overexertion, poor nutrition, and smoking can also weaken the muscles and can increase the possibility of a hernia.

Mesh Surgery 
Surgical mesh is used to supply extra support to the damaged or weakened tissue. It is a medical device, usually made out of either animal tissue (from skin or intestine) or synthetic material. Surgical mesh of synthetic material can be made in non-knitted sheet forms or in the knitted mesh. The synthetic material used for making a surgical mesh can be absorbable, non-absorbable material, or a combination of both.

Surgical mesh made out of animal tissue is disinfected and processed in a way that makes it suitable for implantation. These are absorbable and mostly made from the tissues of pig or cow.
Absorbable mesh degrades and loses its strength over time. It is not made to supply
long-term support to the restored site.

On the other hand, non absorbable mesh remains in the body for a long duration and is accounted for as a permanent implant. It provides permanent strength for restoring hernia.

In Hernioplasty or the mesh surgery for a hernia, the muscle opening is not stitched shut, instead it is covered with a sterile, flat mesh which is mostly made of synthetic or animal tissue. Small cuts are made around the hole in the shape of the mesh and the patch is stitched into the healthy surrounding tissues. The weak or damaged tissues around the hernia use the mesh, as support to regrow.

Recovery
Usually it takes up to 4 to 6 weeks to recover completely from mesh surgery. However, one can get back to his/her normal routine within 2 weeks post the surgery. There are certain precautions that one should undertake to avoid any complications. One should avoid heavy weight lifting, heavy exercises, stretching, and running. These precautions include diet modifications too. One should avoid consuming heavy fatty food and meat.

Takeaway
A hernia can be caused by a number of reasons and mesh surgery is a medical procedure helps to treat this problem. One should not avoid the treatment of hernia as the early treatment reduces the complications.

Mesh Surgery For Hernia - All You Must Know!

Colorectal surgery: How to be sure you need it?

Colorectal surgery is performed to repair damages that occur in the organs of the anus, rectum, and colon. The damage that takes place in these organs can be the result of problems with lower GI like diverticulitis (a condition wherein pouches known as diverticula in the colon wall become inflamed), cancer and inflammatory bowel disease (a group of intestinal disorders that bring about inflammation of the GI).

Who needs this surgery?

In general, colorectal surgery is an essential treatment option for ulcerative colitis, colorectal cancer, Crohn's disease (an inflammatory bowel disease that gives rise to inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract) as well as certain diverticulitis cases. In such cases, the intestinal tract undergoes major reconstruction.

There are also other bowel problems that may require surgery but not of a serious nature and these are anal fissures, hemorrhoids, bowel incontinence and rectal prolapse. Most of the surgical procedures will aid in repairing tears, get rid of blockages, or make tighter sphincter muscles (muscles that surround openings in the body).

Colorectal surgery is also performed in cases of pelvic floor disorders like rectocele (a condition in which the rectum bulges towards the vagina) and perineal hernia (a hernia that involves the pelvic floor).

At the same time, injury, ischemia or compromised blood supply and obstruction may require the performance of bowel surgery as well. Scar tissue and masses can form within the rectum, clogging the organ and preventing the normal discharge of feces from the body.

Problems like ulcerative colitis (an inflammatory bowel disease that leads to the development of ulcers in the colon as well as inflammation of the area) and diverticulitis can give rise to perforations in the rectum. Surgery is suggested in instances when drugs fail to treat the problem of ulcerative colitis.

Likewise, in the case of recurrent instances of perforations or complications in diverticulitis, surgery may be required to remove the portion of the colon affected.



Colorectal Surgery: How To Be Sure You Really Need it

Splenectomy is an operation conducted to remove the spleen. The spleen plays a vital role in building immunity against bacterial infections, located in the uppermost area of the left hand side of the abdomen, just below the diaphragm. There are some specific requirements with regard to the immunizations as well as blood work that might need to be completed before this surgery takes place.

Why is Splenectomy need to be performed?
There are a number of chronic illnesses like Hereditary Spherocytosis or Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, which make it a necessity to get a child s spleen removed. Though it is a rare case but still any kind of trauma to the spleen along with uncontrolled bleeding can create a very serious situation, wherein an emergency might arise to get the spleen removed immediately.

Immunization of child before the operation
Before the surgery of Splenectomy is conducted, immunizations are given to children as a preventive against some specific kinds of infections that are most common for patients to arise after having undergone the surgery of Splenectomy.

How is the surgery performed?
The paediatric surgeon, who performs the surgery, need not require making a large incision for going about the process of operation. In most of the instances, a splenectomy is performed in the following manner, which includes:

A laparoscopic way through which a Paediatric Surgeon makes use of a small telescope along with some instruments of miniaturized nature, while placing them through small band-aid sized cuts on the abdomen.
The operation gets completed within three hours
At the time of hospitalization, a child would receive intravenous fluids, antibiotics as well medicines to get relieve from any kind of pain.
As and when the child feels as if he or she is fit enough, he or she would be allowed to eat, drink and also take medicines by mouth.
Essentials after the Surgery
After the surgery has taken place and the child returns home after a couple of days, there are certain essentials that require to be kept in mind:

Pain Management: Management of pain is the very first thing which should be kept in mind. The medicines prescribed by doctor for dealing with pain are not required after getting discharged from the hospital.
Most of the children would only need Acetaminophen or Ibuprophen once they get back home.
Care for Dressings: One may remove the gauze and clear plastic, which are placed over the small cuts, a couple of days after the surgery. The skin that surrounds the incision might have a reddish tinge and look bruised, which can last for few weeks.
Restrictions related to Activities: There are no real restrictions with regard to the resumption o regular activities. A child can go back to school as and when he or she feels totally comfortable.

Spleen Removal - Why Is It Performed In Kids?

Hernia are bulges protruding form a weak point on belly (abdomen) through which intestine and abdominal fat comes out to lie just below the skin. It can also be found in groin, upper thigh and chest. There are several types of hernia like inguinal hernia (direct and indirect), femoral hernia, umbilical hernia, umbilical hernia, epigastria hernia and incision hernia.

Who get hernia?

Conditions that lead to increased abdominal pressure are at more risk of developing hernia  

o Persistent cough

o Being overweight or pregnant

o Lifting, carrying or pushing heavy loads

o Straining on the toilet

What are the symptoms of hernia?

o Mostly they are asymptomatic/ no symptoms.

o People just notice a swelling or bulge which gets bigger while standing or straining and disappear while lying down/sleeping.

o Some might feel a dragging/aching sensation.

o The swelling tends to get bigger with time.

o Symptoms develop when there is a complication like strangulation. This happens when the content of abdomen (intestine) come out and can not go back. There will be severe pain in the region and vomiting. Overlying skin will become red. Urgent surgery is needed in this situation otherwise the blood supply to intestine gets cut-off and the intestine in hernia might die (gangrene).

How are hernia treated?

Surgery is the only treatment for hernia. Now a days, most of the hernias are operated laparoscopically (key hole or minimally access technique)

Minimally Invasive Hernia Repair - The surgery is done with a laparoscope which has a small tiny camera, hernia mesh and small tool with it. So the patient can return back to their normal routine earlier as the incision made is smaller.

Advantages of Laparoscopy:

Laparoscopy has clear advantage over open repair in the way of less pain, less complications like wound infection, small and more cosmetic scar, shorter hospital stay, early return to work and daily activities and less chance of recurrence (repeat formation of hernia after surgery).

Before undergoing hernia surgery:

* One week before surgery it is much essential to stop taking drugs that are causing the thinning of the blood. Drugs like Clpodogrel and Acitrome or Warfarin should be stopped with the doctor s advice. 
* Stop herbal supplements and check the fitness of your cardio and diabetes. 
* Gain adequate knowledge about surgery and be prepared for post surgical care.

After hernia surgery:

* Avoid heavy weight lifting, exercises, and physical works with excessive strain a few weeks after surgery 
* Cough or laugh loud only with support to the surgical site until one week after surgery

DO s & DON T s in patients of Hernia:

DO s:

1. Increased intake of fibers in diet. ( Fruits, vegetables and grains)

2. Drink plenty of water and other fluid to prevent constipation.

3. Exercise regularly: sweat and loose excess weight and toxins.

4. Eat small meals more frequently in place of one or two large meals

DON T s:

1. Stop smoking and drinking

2. Don t reduce the amount of food you eat

3. Avoid lying down or bending after meal

4. Avoid wearing tight clothes

5. Avoid food difficult to digest

6. Avoid strenuous activities like heavy weight lifting

Types of Hernias:

Incisional hernia:

This happens at the site of previous surgery. This occurs as a result of poor wound healing at the time of previous surgery or as a result of complications like in infection. It is rare after laparoscopic or key hole surgery.

Umbilical hernia:

This occurs through or around belly button (umbilicus). It can be present at the time of birth and needs no repair as most of them resolve by the end of one year. If it persists or appears after 5 years of age then operation is required.

Inguinal hernia:

These are most common hernias and occur in groin region. They are more common in men.

All You Need To Know About Hernia!

Oily skin and summers: what is the ideal way to handle it?

Oily skin is a condition that can be characterized by shine on the skin and a large number of pores. The oil in question is a result of overactive sebaceous glands that produce excessive sebum. This can result in acne and blackheads. Summer is a time of the year where skin problems due to oily skin are worsened by factors such as sweat and dust. So proper skin care is necessary in order to negate the effects of oily skin.

There are multiple ways to handle this condition in summers:

1. Using cleansers - Proper cleaning of skin is a very important step in lessening the effects of oily skin. Harsh cleansers have an opposing effect as they facilitate secretion of oil, so a mild cleanser is usually the best option. Some cleansers may contain ingredients that irritate the skin, so care is advised in selecting a proper one.

2. Hydration and food - Keeping the body well hydrated in summers combined with a diet free of greasy, oily food and less fats can help in reducing the effects of oily skin.

3. Using masks to clear the face - Masks such as clay masks, yogurt, and baking soda can help in cleansing the skin by clearing the oil. It should be noted that these treatments should not be overdone as they can cause the skin to dry up too much and over secrete oil.

4. Skin moisturizers - People often have this notion that oily skin does not require moisturizer application. Selecting a moisturizer that is fit for oily skin and using it will help moisturize the skin and keep it healthy.

5. Sunscreen - Sunscreen is a necessity during summers, and the sunscreen you choose should be specifically for oily skin in order for it to work effectively. Application of sunscreen can help prevent the UV rays of the sun from penetrating the skin and cause complications.

6. Dermatological treatment - In case of severe oiliness, treatments such as chemical peels and creams laced with tretinoin can help.



Oily skin and summers: what is the ideal way to handle it?

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